Has the Promise of the Internet Been Realized? Internet Access and Collective Invention among Independent and Organizational Patent Investors

Keywords

Internet, invention, innovation, patenting, organizations

Abstract

The Internet provides individuals with new avenues for knowledge sharing and collaboration, two key ingredients for the production of novelty. Despite the unprecedented access to information and potential collaborators provided by the Internet, however, organizations remain the preeminent site of invention, presumably due to the tremendous resources, technology, and expertise at their disposal. Given the presumption that improved access to the Internet cultivates connectivity and novelty among individuals, on one hand, and the resources organizations can leverage to create novelty, on the other hand, we ask whether Internet access plays a role in the incidence of collective invention for independent inventors and organizational inventors in the knowledge economy. Regression models based on a sample of metropolitan areas in the United States predict that increases in household Internet access increases collective invention for organizational patent inventors, but not independent patent inventors.

Original Publication Citation

Dahlin, E., Dufur, M., & Flake, D. (2019). Has the Promise of the Internet Been Realized? Internet Access and Collective Invention among Independent and Organizational Patent Inventors. Social Currents, 6(6), 553–574.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2019-07-05

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/6694

Publisher

Social Currents

Language

English

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Sociology

University Standing at Time of Publication

Associate Professor

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