INTRODUCTION Star inventors, positioned at the top of the talent distribution, represent exceptionally valuable and scarce resources that enable firms to generate cutting-edge innovations (Heeley et al., 2026; Liu et al., 2018; Markman et al., 2008). From the human capital perspective, the expertise and social networks of star inventors are viewed as key contributors to firm innovation performance (Call et al., 2025; Grigoriou and Rothaermel, 2014; Kehoe and Tzabbar, 2015; Liu, 2014).