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Korean Academic Society of Business Administration
[ Article ]
korean management review - Vol. 54, No. 6, pp.1641-1677
ISSN: 1226-1874 (Print)
Print publication date 31 Dec 2025
Received 09 May 2025 Revised 17 Aug 2025 Accepted 04 Sep 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17287/kmr.2025.54.6.1641

Too Crowded to Innovate: Competitive Crowding and Inventor Productivity Slowdown in Acquiring Firms

Yonghwan Lee ; Kwangjun An
(First Author) University of Seoul yonghwan.lee1@uos.ac.kr
(Corresponding Author) Waseda University kwangjun@aoni.waseda.jp
이용환 ; 안광준
(주저자) 서울시립대학교


Copyright 2025 THE KOREAN ACADEMIC SOCIETY OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Firms in high-tech industries frequently pursue technological acquisitions to enhance innovation and sustain a competitive advantage. While prior research has offered valuable insights into organizational- level outcomes, relatively little attention has been paid to individual-level consequences, particularly for employees in the acquiring firm who constitute the technical core of innovation. This study examines how social dynamics that unfold in the post-acquisition context shape the innovation productivity of these acquirer inventors. Drawing on network theory, we argue that competitive crowding―defined as intensified rivalry with inventors from the acquired firm within overlapping technological domains―inhibits collaboration and intensifies competition for organizational resources and recognition. These dynamics contribute to a productivity slowdown during the initial post-acquisition period. We further suggest that the impact of competitive crowding is contingent upon the network context, specifically the degree of status similarity and the extent of network segregation. Analyzing data on 130,600 acquiring inventors involved in U.S. high-tech acquisitions between 2002 and 2015, we find empirical support for these claims. By uncovering how social structures influence individual productivity during periods of organizational change, this research contributes significantly to the acquisition literature and broadens the theoretical scope of network theory.

Keywords:

Technological acquisitions, Acquirer inventors, Innovation productivity, Competitive crowding, Status similarity, Network segregation

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∙ The author Yonghwan Lee is a lecturer of management at the University of Seoul, Republic of Korea. He received his PhD in Strategy & Organization from the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University in Canada. His research interests include corporate development, technological innovation, organizational change and design, social networks, and big data analysis.

∙ The author Kwangjun An is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Commerce, Waseda University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and previously held a faculty position at McGill University. His research focuses on technology management, organizational change, and strategic communication using multi-method empirical approaches.