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

Appendix
David Grosse Kathoefer and Jens Leker
Constructs, items, factor loadings, Cronbach’s Alphas
Questionnaire items Factor loadings
NIH 1 (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.895; explained variance = 71.00%; construct reliability = 0.887)
1. The knowledge <strong>of</strong> external partners helps our research group to solve problems. (R) .878
2. The knowledge <strong>of</strong> external partners provides us new research opportunities. (R) .834
3. The knowledge <strong>of</strong> external partners helps us to improve internal working processes. (R) .750
4. The knowledge <strong>of</strong> external partners helps us to increase our research productivity. (R) .868
5. The knowledge <strong>of</strong> external partners helps us to achieve our research goals. (R) .875
NIH 2 (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.841; explained variance = 61.49%; construct reliability = 0.855)
How well did research projects, in which predominantly external knowledge was used, in comparison to those projects mainly using
internal knowledge with regards to <strong>the</strong> following dimension?
1. Time to finish <strong>of</strong> project. (R) .746
2. Realization <strong>of</strong> project goals. (R) .803
3. Risk <strong>of</strong> failure. (R) .859
4. Appearance <strong>of</strong> unforeseen problems. (R) .799
5. Generation <strong>of</strong> follow-up projects. (R) .704
NIH 3 (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.644; explained variance = 48.58%; construct reliability = 0.652)
1. We ra<strong>the</strong>r develop knowledge on our own than being dependent on <strong>the</strong> knowledge provider’s collaboration in order to understand .796
<strong>the</strong> external knowledge.
2. Even without using external technology, we can achieve research success. .760
3. External knowledge sourcing is less attractive to our research unit, because we would run <strong>the</strong> risk <strong>of</strong> disclosing our technological .590
knowledge during <strong>the</strong> collaboration with a knowledge provider.
4. Using external knowledge is an important alternative for knowledge sourcing within this research unit. (R) .619
NIH 4 (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.620; explained variance = 56.86%; construct reliability = 0.635)
To what extent do ideas for <strong>the</strong> following knowledge types come from internal sources (own ideas, staff etc.) in contrast to
external sources (industry partners, research colleagues, requests for project proposals etc.)?
1. Experimental methodological skills. (R) .721
2. Theoretical methodological skills. (R) .832
3. Knowledge for analysis and interpretation <strong>of</strong> results. (R) .703
NIH (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.677; explained variance = 51.26%; construct reliability = 0.761)
• NIH 1 .813
• NIH 2 .698
• NIH 3 .751
• NIH 4 .582
Opinion <strong>of</strong> colleagues (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.969; explained variance = 94.22%; construct reliability = 0.969)
Independent <strong>of</strong> your personal opinion, what do your colleagues think about external knowledge sourcing?
• Bad vs. good .949
• Foolish vs. wise .953
• Harmful vs. beneficial .924
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