Knowledge integration in multinational enterprises: The role of inventors crossing national and organizational boundaries

Adopting a microfoundations approach to the analysis of intra-multinational enterprise (MNE) knowledge integration, we focus on mobile inventors and their boundary-spanning experience. Using inventor-patent data on US-based MNEs, we show that intra-organizational cross-border mobility and inter-organizational mobility have respectively a positive and a negative effect on knowledge integration. Cross-border mobility within the MNE enables the temporary co-location of mobile inventors in different units, facilitating the dissemination of their knowledge within the MNE. Conversely, “job-hopping” inventors may remain organizational outsiders, which hinders their ability to foster intra-MNE knowledge integration.