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Collaboration networks and radical innovation: Two faces of tie strength and structural holes

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Collaboration networks and radical innovation: Two faces of tie strength and structural holes. / Zhang, Jia; Wang, Jian; Winnink, Jos et al.
In: Journal of Informetrics, Vol. 19, No. 1, 101636, 28.02.2025.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Harvard

Zhang, J, Wang, J, Winnink, J & Jong, S 2025, 'Collaboration networks and radical innovation: Two faces of tie strength and structural holes', Journal of Informetrics, vol. 19, no. 1, 101636. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2024.101636

APA

Zhang, J., Wang, J., Winnink, J., & Jong, S. (2025). Collaboration networks and radical innovation: Two faces of tie strength and structural holes. Journal of Informetrics, 19(1), Article 101636. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2024.101636

Vancouver

Zhang J, Wang J, Winnink J, Jong S. Collaboration networks and radical innovation: Two faces of tie strength and structural holes. Journal of Informetrics. 2025 Feb 28;19(1):101636. Epub 2025 Jan 1. doi: 10.1016/j.joi.2024.101636

Author

Zhang, Jia ; Wang, Jian ; Winnink, Jos et al. / Collaboration networks and radical innovation : Two faces of tie strength and structural holes. In: Journal of Informetrics. 2025 ; Vol. 19, No. 1.

Bibtex

@article{d12dedefe06047848ec66e7831de3272,
title = "Collaboration networks and radical innovation: Two faces of tie strength and structural holes",
abstract = "This paper studies how tie strength and structural holes collectively affect innovation radicalness at a location within an innovating firm. We identified 16,011 inventors{\textquoteright} locations of the 93 most innovative U.S. pharmaceuticals and biotechnology companies on the EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard. We tracked their patents from 2001 to 2013 and constructed a panel dataset for analysis. Using firm-location fixed effect models, we found that the average tie strength of a location's egocentric network has a negative effect on innovation radicalness, and this negative effect is stronger when the location's egocentric network is cohesive. This suggests that weak ties have informational advantages for radical innovation, which are more pronounced when there is network cohesion to mitigate the relational disadvantages of weak ties. We also found a negative effect of structural holes on innovation radicalness when tie strength is weak but a positive effect when tie strength is strong. This indicates that strong ties are needed for mobilizing the informational advantages associated with structural holes.",
author = "Jia Zhang and Jian Wang and Jos Winnink and Simcha Jong",
year = "2025",
month = feb,
day = "28",
doi = "10.1016/j.joi.2024.101636",
language = "English",
volume = "19",
journal = "Journal of Informetrics",
issn = "1751-1577",
publisher = "Elsevier BV",
number = "1",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Collaboration networks and radical innovation

T2 - Two faces of tie strength and structural holes

AU - Zhang, Jia

AU - Wang, Jian

AU - Winnink, Jos

AU - Jong, Simcha

PY - 2025/2/28

Y1 - 2025/2/28

N2 - This paper studies how tie strength and structural holes collectively affect innovation radicalness at a location within an innovating firm. We identified 16,011 inventors’ locations of the 93 most innovative U.S. pharmaceuticals and biotechnology companies on the EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard. We tracked their patents from 2001 to 2013 and constructed a panel dataset for analysis. Using firm-location fixed effect models, we found that the average tie strength of a location's egocentric network has a negative effect on innovation radicalness, and this negative effect is stronger when the location's egocentric network is cohesive. This suggests that weak ties have informational advantages for radical innovation, which are more pronounced when there is network cohesion to mitigate the relational disadvantages of weak ties. We also found a negative effect of structural holes on innovation radicalness when tie strength is weak but a positive effect when tie strength is strong. This indicates that strong ties are needed for mobilizing the informational advantages associated with structural holes.

AB - This paper studies how tie strength and structural holes collectively affect innovation radicalness at a location within an innovating firm. We identified 16,011 inventors’ locations of the 93 most innovative U.S. pharmaceuticals and biotechnology companies on the EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard. We tracked their patents from 2001 to 2013 and constructed a panel dataset for analysis. Using firm-location fixed effect models, we found that the average tie strength of a location's egocentric network has a negative effect on innovation radicalness, and this negative effect is stronger when the location's egocentric network is cohesive. This suggests that weak ties have informational advantages for radical innovation, which are more pronounced when there is network cohesion to mitigate the relational disadvantages of weak ties. We also found a negative effect of structural holes on innovation radicalness when tie strength is weak but a positive effect when tie strength is strong. This indicates that strong ties are needed for mobilizing the informational advantages associated with structural holes.

U2 - 10.1016/j.joi.2024.101636

DO - 10.1016/j.joi.2024.101636

M3 - Journal article

VL - 19

JO - Journal of Informetrics

JF - Journal of Informetrics

SN - 1751-1577

IS - 1

M1 - 101636

ER -