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What Inspires Leisure Time Invention?

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Author Info
Davis, Lee N.
Davis, Jerome
Hoisl, Karin

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Abstract

This paper seeks to understand the intriguing but only sparsely explored phenomenon of “leisure time invention,” where the main underlying idea for the new product or process occurs when the inventor is away from the workplace. We add to previous research by focussing on the inventive creativity of the individual researcher, and reassessing the image of researchers inventing during unpaid time – who have often been dispatched as “hobbyists”. Based on the responses from a survey of over 3,000 German inventors, we tested hypotheses on the conditions under which leisure time invention is likely to arise. Results suggest that the incidence of leisure time invention is positively related to exposure to a variety of knowledge inputs – but, surprisingly, not to the quality of prior inventive output. Leisure time inventions are more frequently observed in conceptual-based technologies than in science-based technologies, in smaller R&D projects, and in externally financed R&D projects.

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Paper provided by University of Munich, Munich School of Management in its series Discussion Papers in Business Administration with number 10457.

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Date of creation: 01 Jan 2009
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Handle: RePEc:lmu:msmdpa:10457

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Related research
Keywords: Leisure Time; Inventiveness; Organizational Creativity;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
O31 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
O32 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
O34 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - Intellectual Property Rights
J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Zvi Griliches, 1970. "Notes On The Role Of Education In Production Functions And Growth Accounting," NBER Chapters, in: Education, Income, and Human Capital, pages 71-128 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  2. Richard R. Nelson, 1959. "The Economics of Invention: A Survey of the Literature," Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32, pages 101. [Downloadable!]
  3. Dahlin, Kristina & Taylor, Margaret & Fichman, Mark, 2004. "Today's Edisons or weekend hobbyists: technical merit and success of inventions by independent inventors," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(8), pages 1167-1183, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Hoisl, Karin, 2007. "Tracing mobile inventors--The causality between inventor mobility and inventor productivity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 619-636, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Scott Stern, 1999. "Do Scientists Pay to Be Scientists?," NBER Working Papers 7410, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Klevorick, Alvin K. & Levin, Richard C. & Nelson, Richard R. & Winter, Sidney G., 1995. "On the sources and significance of interindustry differences in technological opportunities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 185-205, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. Thomas Astebro, 2003. "The Return to Independent Invention: Evidence of Unrealistic Optimism, Risk Seeking or Skewness Loving?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(484), pages 226-239, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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This page was last updated on 2009-11-17.

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