Nonlinear impact of the interaction between internal knowledge and knowledge spillover on patent quality: Evidence from China's provincial high‐tech industry

Abstract

This paper first divides knowledge resources into internal knowledge and knowledge spillover from the dual perspective of inside and outside the region. Then, a panel threshold regression model is constructed by using the panel data from 30 provincial high‐tech industries in China during the 2009–2019 period using the intellectual property protection intensity as the threshold variable, and the nonlinear impact of the interaction between internal knowledge and knowledge spillover on the patent quality in the high‐tech industry is empirically explored. The results show the following. (1) The interaction between internal knowledge and knowledge spillover has a significant nonlinear effect on the patent quality in China's provincial high‐tech industry. There is a double‐threshold effect with the intellectual property protection intensity as the threshold variable. (2) As the threshold value of the intellectual property protection intensity increases, the promotion effect of the interaction between internal knowledge and knowledge spillover on the patent quality first increases and then decreases. (3) The spatiotemporal heterogeneity of the intellectual property protection intensity is obvious in all regions in China. (4) Internal knowledge, the infrastructure construction level, and the human capital level have significant positive effects on the patent quality, while knowledge spillover and the opening‐up level have significant negative effects.