Is there a first mover advantage in science? Pioneering behavior and scientific production in nanotechnology

Mareva Sabatier (1) , Barthelemy Chollet (2, 1)

1 IREGE - Institut de Recherche en Gestion et en Economie
2 EESC-GEM Grenoble Ecole de Management

This article investigates whether pioneers in a research field have a sustainable first mover advantage in publications. Combining bibliometric (publications, citations, co-authorship) with survey data on 495 nanotechnology researchers, we analyzed career attributes, professional context and production overtime. Our econometric estimates highlight two main results. First, pioneering behavior is not exogenous: it is more probable among scientists who are already established in their " mother-discipline " (before entering nanotechnology), have a strong collaboration network, and have easy access to field-specific resources. Second, even after controlling for the endogeneity of entry timing, we find a strong first mover advantage: pioneers in the emerging field exhibit significantly higher scientific production in that field in the long run.

Mots clés: first mover advantage; scientific production; pioneering behavior; nanotechnology

Domaines: Economies et finances

Mareva Sabatier, Barthelemy Chollet. Is there a first mover advantage in science? Pioneering behavior and scientific production in nanotechnology. Research Policy, 2017, 46, pp.522 - 533. ⟨10.1016/j.respol.2017.01.003⟩. ⟨hal-01522764⟩