Exploring redundancies in multichannel knowledge sourcing in high-technology industries

Purpose: Scientific collaborations represent informal external ties that together with formal R&D alliances constitute a multichannel knowledge sourcing network in science-based industries. Although such multichannel knowledge sourcing benefits firms by providing more thorough access to external sources, it also entails potentially significant redundancies worthy of consideration. This paper aims to take a step by first verifying their existence, followed by an examination of key contingencies determining the extent of these redundancies, i.e. firm absorptive capacity, balanced utilization of ties and firm size. Design methodology approach: This is an empirical study that uses scientific collaborations and R&D alliances of US pharmaceutical companies to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings: This paper verifies the existence of multichannel knowledge sourcing redundancies, followed by an examination of key contingencies determining the extent of these redundancies, i.e. firm absorptive capacity, balanced utilization of ties and firm size. Originality value: To the knowledge, this is a first attempt at clarifying redundancies in innovative knowledge sourcing and their implications for firm innovation performance.