Impact of knowledge search on product and process innovation: mediating role of absorptive capacity and moderating role of IT capability

Abstract

PurposeMore enterprises adopt open innovation by breaking technological or organizational boundaries to seek internal and external knowledge when they face a fiercely competitive environment, complex market demands, and increasingly rapid technological change. In this context, a knowledge search strategy is regarded as an effective means of obtaining inside and outside resources and an important way to break the innovation bottleneck. Moreover, information technology (IT) is deemed an important asset for sourcing knowledge, whereas absorptive capacity is seen as an indispensable ability for utilizing novel knowledge. Thus, this paper aims to test the role of knowledge search in open innovation and examine the mediating effect of absorptive capacity and the moderating effect of IT capability.Design/methodology/approachUsing a sample of 1,088 Chinese firms’ data collected by the World Bank in 2012, this paper employs logistic regression to test the hypotheses.FindingsThis study finds that local and boundary-spanning search strategies positively influence both product and process innovation, and absorptive capacity has a mediating role in the relationships between knowledge search and product and process innovation. Moreover, IT capability has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between local search and innovation performance; however, IT capability strengthens the relationship between boundary-spanning search and process innovation while weakens that between boundary-spanning search and product innovation.Originality/valueThis study explores the impact of different knowledge search behaviors on different types of innovation and probes the role of absorptive capacity and IT capability in mediating and moderating the above relationships. By drawing on knowledge-based theory and cognitive-developmental theory, this paper provides a novel perspective to explain the mechanism between knowledge search and innovation performance.

Determining the role of sources of knowledge and IT resources for stimulating firm innovation capability: a PLS-SEM approach

“…From the searching to the innovation process, valuable knowledge is regarded as one of the most significant components for dealing with technological transformation, establishing long-term competitive advantage, and enhancing innovative capabilities via radical and incremental innovation (Ndofor and Levitas, 2004;Shehzad et al, 2021b). Moreover, Knowledge, on the other hand, does not directly transfer into product or process innovation; it requires the facilitation of firm resources and expertise throughout the identification, acquisition, transformation, and exploitation processes (Gao et al, 2020). The researcher asserted that innovation results from human agents employing IT to strengthen or build new organizational resources that assist the firm in developing new goods or services (Chatterjee et al, 2020).…”

“…Researchers indicated that knowledge sources (both internal and external) assist organizations in enhancing their innovation capability (Dost et al, 2019;Shehzad et al, 2022). However, enterprises may take full advantage of these learning opportunities only if they have enough fundamental R&D, absorptive, or competence (Gao et al, 2020). With the fast advancement of technology, IT has emerged as a critical effective resource input for organizations' knowledge sources and innovation activities, owing to its efficiency in gathering, processing, and disseminating organizational knowledge (Alavi and Leidner, 2001; Stimulating firm innovation capability Dong and Netten, 2017).…”

“…, 2022). However, enterprises may take full advantage of these learning opportunities only if they have enough fundamental R&D, absorptive, or competence (Gao et al. , 2020).…”

“…, 2021b). Moreover, Knowledge, on the other hand, does not directly transfer into product or process innovation; it requires the facilitation of firm resources and expertise throughout the identification, acquisition, transformation, and exploitation processes (Gao et al. , 2020).…”

IT Usage and Innovation Performance of SMEs in China: A New Perspective

“…org/index.php/catalog/1559. is dataset has also been used extensively in recent research (e.g., Gao et al [40]; Mu et al [41]; Wang and Qi [42]; Zhu et al [43]), which demonstrates its validity and potential.…”