Knowledge Diffusion and Knowledge Transfer: Two Sides of the Medal

40 Pages Posted: 22 Dec 2009

See all articles by Torben Klarl

Torben Klarl

University of Augsburg - Faculty of Business and Economics; ZEW

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: December 20, 2009

Abstract

Understanding the way in which knowledge is technically produced and transferred, and how its diffusion path can be characterized is of fundamental importance for the performance of an economy. Although this fact seems to be plausible ex ante, the relevant literature so far has paid less attention investigating the microeconomic link between knowledge transfer and knowledge diffusion in a comprehensive approach. The aim of this paper is to highlight the link between knowledge transfer, knowledge diffusion and network effects in a stochastic environment, because the adoption decision of new knowledge should be treated as a stochastic event. For this reason, a new knowledge diffusion model in the line of Bass (1969) has been put forward, which integrates knowledge diffusion and knowledge transfer. The advantage of the proposed model is twofold. From a theoretical point of view, not only the so-called unimodal diffusion phenomena can be modelled, but also bimodal diffusion phenomena can be obtained. From an empirical point of view, the model which incorporates heteroscedastic errors and mean reverting behaviour can be theoretically estimated directly within a standard SUR context.

Keywords: Knowledge diffusion, knowledge transfer, SUR

JEL Classification: C50, C51, C61, D83

Suggested Citation

Klarl, Torben, Knowledge Diffusion and Knowledge Transfer: Two Sides of the Medal (December 20, 2009). ZEW - Centre for European Economic Research Discussion Paper No. 09-080, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1526143 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1526143

Torben Klarl (Contact Author)

University of Augsburg - Faculty of Business and Economics ( email )

Augsburg, 86135
Germany

ZEW ( email )

P.O. Box 10 34 43
L 7,1
D-68034 Mannheim, 68034
Germany

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