Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

Evgeny Blagov
<strong>the</strong> transaction and thus to increase <strong>the</strong> firm’s probability to choose <strong>the</strong> variants <strong>of</strong> technological
knowledge renovation sources oriented on <strong>the</strong> external transaction costs minimization and to
decrease <strong>the</strong> probability to choose <strong>the</strong> variants oriented on <strong>the</strong> internal transaction costs minimization.
Thus, such a hypo<strong>the</strong>sis concerning this factor can be formulated:
Hypo<strong>the</strong>sis 8:
Increase in necessity <strong>of</strong> support and fur<strong>the</strong>r development <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> focal knowledge
resource would lead to <strong>the</strong> increase in probability <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> firm’s inclination to create
necessary knowledge by own strength, to acquire <strong>the</strong> necessary knowledge provider and
to create a long-term alliance relationship with <strong>the</strong> necessary knowledge provider (in
case <strong>of</strong> increase in <strong>the</strong> ability to control <strong>the</strong> potential counterparty’s actions) and, in turn,
to decrease <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> probability <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> firm’s inclination to buy necessary knowledge on <strong>the</strong>
open market.
Ano<strong>the</strong>r suggestion based on <strong>the</strong> assumption <strong>of</strong> this factor’s positive influence on <strong>the</strong> potential
uncertainty <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> knowledge renovation transaction is <strong>the</strong> one that <strong>the</strong> necessity <strong>of</strong> support and
fur<strong>the</strong>r development <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> focal knowledge resource can act as a counterbalance to <strong>the</strong> influence <strong>of</strong>
<strong>the</strong> congruence factor on <strong>the</strong> uncertainty <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> transaction.
So, a following hypo<strong>the</strong>sis can be formulated:
Hypo<strong>the</strong>sis 9:
Necessity <strong>of</strong> support and fur<strong>the</strong>r development <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> focal knowledge resource would
diminish <strong>the</strong> influence <strong>of</strong> congruence <strong>of</strong> results <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> focal firm and a potential
counterparty on <strong>the</strong> firm’s choice <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> knowledge renovation source variants.
3.1 Empirical research design
To check each <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> hypo<strong>the</strong>ses four ordered probit models have been built with ordinal variables
characterizing <strong>the</strong> firm’s inclination to choose a variant <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> technological knowledge renovation
sources.
An example <strong>of</strong> such a model could be a questionnaire item reflecting <strong>the</strong> dependent variable <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
probability <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> firm’s inclination to create necessary knowledge by own strength. A question has a
following formulation:
How <strong>of</strong>ten in cases <strong>of</strong> technological knowledge renovation for <strong>the</strong> last 10 years <strong>the</strong> firm did create <strong>the</strong>
necessary knowledge by own strength?
(0 – it never did; 5 – <strong>the</strong> firm used this source in around 50% cases; 10 – <strong>the</strong> firm did use solely this
source <strong>of</strong> technological knowledge renovation).
An independent variable for that question was designed in <strong>the</strong> following logic:
y = {0, if <strong>the</strong> firm did never create necessary knowledge by own strength; 5, if <strong>the</strong> firm used this
source in around 50% cases; 10, if <strong>the</strong> firm did use solely this source <strong>of</strong> technological knowledge
renovation}.
Description <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r three dependent variables was done analogically.
As independent variables ordinal and binary variables characterizing <strong>the</strong> influencing factors were
used.
An example <strong>of</strong> an ordinal variable construction could be a question related to <strong>the</strong> factor <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> focal
knowledge resource’s importance for <strong>the</strong> firm’s result.
A question has a following formulation:
How important for <strong>the</strong> firm in making decisions related to <strong>the</strong> technological knowledge
renovation sources for <strong>the</strong> last 10 years have been a factor <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> focal knowledge
resource’s importance for <strong>the</strong> firm’s result?
1037