Impact of Reabsorption of Spilled Knowledge on Patent Value

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Innovation is often achieved by recombining existing knowledge. Thus, effective utilization of external knowledge is key for firms creating innovation. The concept of reabsorption, where an originating firm reabsorbs its spilled knowledge, including the advancements made by recipient firms, has attracted attention. Existing studies have not clarified the impact of reabsorption on patent value and have not confirmed whether an originating firm reabsorbs knowledge in the same or different technological fields. Therefore, this study attempts to examine the impact of reabsorption of knowledge on patent value considering technological fields using patent data. Reabsorption of spilled knowledge was tracked using patent citation data, and patent value was evaluated by the number of citations. By conducting negative binomial regression, we concluded that the reabsorption of spilled knowledge has a positive impact on patent value. Furthermore, the impact is greater when a firm reabsorbs spilled knowledge in different technological fields. Our results suggest that a firm has the ability to effectively create innovation by reabsorbing spilled knowledge.