Relationship Between Knowledge Base and Innovation-Driven Growth: Moderated by Organizational Character

Abstract

Purpose: On the background of innovation-driven growth strategy of the Chinese government, this study aims to explore the impact of the knowledge base on innovation-driven growth of a firm, which is moderated by organizational character.Design/methodology/approach: Based on the data of 965 Chinese listed companies, some hypotheses were tested using the method of hierarchical regression analysis.Findings: Organizational growth relies on both technological and business model innovations and their interactive effect. Knowledge base, both breadth and depth, makes a positive impact on the innovation-driven growth of an enterprise. In the impacting mechanism, an explicit organizational character not only has direct positive effects on business model innovation, it also strengthens the effect of knowledge breadth on business model innovation. On the contrary, an implicit organizational character is not significantly related to innovation.Research limitations/implications: In order to achieve growth, enterprises are suggested to adopt such dual innovation strategy, led by technological innovation and supplemented with business model innovation, which is supported by the integrated management of intangible resources, deep and broad knowledge, and explicit organizational character.Originality/value: A new theoretical framework of organizational innovation-driven growth was proposed. The realization paths of innovation-driven growth were explored. The idea of collaborative governance between the knowledge base and organizational character was raised.

The Influence of Knowledge Base on the Dual-Innovation Performance of Firms

“…This study promotes the integration and development of some theories such as knowledge base, exploratory innovation, exploitative innovation, and data mining. Knowledge base are regarded as an important source of firms' sustainable competitive advantage (Yu and Yan, 2021 ; Low and Ho, 2016 ). Based on the knowledge-based view and data mining and other related theories, this study constructs the theoretical model of the relationship between the knowledge base and dual-innovation performance of firms and analyzes the influence of knowledge-base features on the dual-innovation performance of firms in different clusters.…”

“…Meanwhile, it is also difficult to be cracked, imitated, and chased by other competitors. Therefore, the knowledge base is not only a decisive resource for firms but also an important component of their sustainable competitive advantage (Yu and Yan, 2021 ; Low and Ho, 2016 ). A firm with a stronger knowledge base can predict the future more accurately.…”

Exploring the impact of external collaboration on firm growth capability: the mediating roles of R&D efforts

“…Learning from the previous study (Yu and Yan, 2021 ), we designed four control variables as the alternative explanations for firm growth. First, we set ownership as a dummy variable that controls for potential variations between state-owned enterprises (coded as 1) and private-owned, foreign-owned, or other types of enterprises (coded as 0).…”

“…From a macro perspective, Dalgıç and Fazlıoğlu ( 2021 ) emphasized that firm growth capability can be assessed from employment growth and sales growth. From a micro perspective, Yu and Yan ( 2021 ) argued that firm growth capability should be evaluated by income growth and assets growth. However, these studies generally measured “how much” a firm grows, but ignored investigating “how” the firm grows (McKelvie and Wiklund, 2010 ).…”

The impact of R&D effort on business model innovation: Evaluating chain mediation through collaboration breadth and depth

“…In the field of external collaboration, its breadth and depth have been repeatedly employed to address research questions [ 25 , 26 ]. Extant studies have shown that both are beneficial to enterprise innovation [ 19 , 27 ]. Thus, we proposed that the two are also important antecedents of business model innovation.…”