Exploratory innovation, the influence of core technical knowledge structure and the breadth of managerial attention

The purpose of this dissertation is two fold; first, to examine the influence on managerial attention of the structural characteristics in a firm’s core technical knowledge portfolio. Second, to examine the influence on exploratory innovation of those structural characteristics as well as the influence of managerial attention. This dissertation draws from resource based theory as well as cognition and recombinant innovation literatures.First, this dissertation addresses a gap in the attention based theory of the firm (Ocasio, 1997) by examining how Concentration and Ease of Recombination, as structural measures of a firm’s core technology portfolio, affect absorptive capacity and therefore the Breadth Managerial Attention. The results of the analysis suggest that both Concentration and the Ease of Recombination are related to the Breadth of Managerial Attention.Second, this dissertation focuses on exploratory innovation and examines the relationship between a firm’s core resource structure and, the theoretically critical but unexamined role of, managerial attention. The Breadth of Managerial Attention is suggested to influence the identification of external knowledge available for the firm to recombine with its core technical knowledge. The results of the analysis suggest that the Breadth of Managerial Attention plays an important role as the firm creates exploratory innovations.