Abstract: Promoting the dissemination of technical information is one of the core objectives of patent system. However, the available survey data show that some researchers do not use patent literature as a source of technical information during the innovation process, which is contrary to the theoretical and institutional expectations. The existing literature related to patent information utilization mainly focuses on the problems of the patent disclosure system, whether patents disclose useful information, as well as the disclosure effects of the patent system. Nevertheless, whether R&D personnel make use of patent information and why they use or do not use patents remained unexplored. This study investigated the factors influencing R&D personnel’s patent information utilization behavior by integrating the theory of planned behavior model and information adoption model. More specifically, the research questions include: (1) what are the factors that affect R&D personnel’s patent information utilization behavior? (2) How do these factors interact with each other? (3) What is the relative importance of these factors’ impact on the patent information utilization behavior. Through investigating R&D personnel in universities and companies, and adopt PLS-SEM model, this paper found that: (1) perceived relevance and perceived credibility have positive influence on attitude toward patent information utilization, while ease of understanding exerts no effect on patent information utilization; (2) attitude toward patent information utilization, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control have positive influence on behavioral intention. Among them, attitude toward patent information utilization is the most important variable in the formation of behavioral intention, followed by subjective norm and perceived behavioral control in sequence; (3) behavioral intention and perceived behavioral control are important influencing factors of patent information utilization behavior. These results deepen our understanding of R&D personnel’s patent information utilization decision and provides guidelines for the government to promote patent information utilization. To specify, first, policy makers should take measures to strengthen the quality review of patent disclosures and guide R&D personnel to develop a positive attitude toward the use of patent information. Moreover, the government should formulate structured policies to support the utilization of patent information and adopt standardized disclosure formats and language to enhance the ease of understanding of patent texts. Furthermore, the government can promote the formation of social norms of patent information utilization by R&D personnel through various means such as industry associations, academic conferences as well as case publicity. In addition, the government should improve the accessibility of patent information resources and enhance the patent information utilization ability of R&D personnel. Nevertheless, this study subjects to some limitation. First, the sample in this paper is not the result of strict sampling survey, and its statistical conclusions cannot be directly generalized to the whole country. In terms of research methods, this study is a static study using cross-sectional data, while a more robust causal mechanism can be found through longitudinal research design in the future. Finally, future studies can explore whether the heterogeneity exists among different groups, and thereby comprehend the influencing mechanism of heterogenous factors affect the use of patent information.