최고경영진의 인구통계학적 특성이 하이테크 기업의 기술적 혁신에 미치는 영향

This study investigates top management team characteristics which facilitate technological innovations of high-technology, knowledge-intensive firms. Using the upper-echelons theory, we hypothesize that demographic variables of top management team (TMT) members will affect the firm’s technological innovation outcomes measured in terms of patents. Results from the negative binomial regression indicate that average age of top team members is negatively related to the technological innovations whereas average organizational tenure, the proportion of science and engineering specialists, and the proportion of top team members with legal expertise positively affect the creation of technological innovation. By examining patents as the output of technological innovation activities, which has rarely been the focus of research streams of the upper-echelons theory, this study shows that top executives in high-technology firms exert different influence on firm performance from those in other industries. This study links the empirical gap between the upper-echelons theory and the knowledge management literature, providing a new avenue for future research on the organizational learning mechanism affected by TMT characteristics.