Search broadly or search narrowly? Role of knowledge search strategy in innovation performance

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to shed some new light on the mixed findings of previous empirical studies on the effect of knowledge search breadth (SB) on firms’ 2019 innovation performance (IP). Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts a contingent approach that examines the two organizational factors in determining the shape of the SB-IP curve. The empirical study is based on survey data gathered from 414 Chinese firms. In dealing with concerns on simultaneity and reverse causality, perceived time-lag between outcome variable and explanatory variables was introduced. Findings This study reveals that knowledge novelty and absorptive capacity are two functions underlying the SB-IP relationship. The results also indicate that innovation orientation and firm age moderate the SB-IP relationship in different ways: the more innovation-oriented the firm, the steeper the inverted U-shaped SB-IP relationship will be, while the older the firm, the flatter the SB-IP relationship will be. Interestingly, there is strong evidence for the shape-flip phenomenon of the SB-IP curve: SB has an inverted U-shaped effect on IP when a firm is young; however, SB has a U-shaped effect when the firm is older than 37 years. Originality/value By revealing two underlying functions and two moderators of the association between SB and IP at the firm level, this paper contributes to shed some new light to the mixed results reported by previous empirical studies that have examined the effect of knowledge search on firm innovation.

How knowledge search affects the performance of reverse internationalization enterprises: the co-moderating role of causation and effectuation

“…Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses (Ferraris et al , 2019; Li et al , 2019; Shi et al , 2019). Variables are separately added to the regression model (Table 4).…”

“…To avoid the CMV bias, the independent and dependent variables were separated into modules in the questionnaire design (Li et al , 2019). Moreover, for the final firm sample, the Harman’s one-factor test was used to detect any CMV (Podsakoff and Organ, 1986).…”

“…On the one hand, most of the knowledge acquired by focused search is familiar (Roper et al, 2017). The path dependence of search and the overloading of homogeneous knowledge lead to diminishing marginal revenue (Li et al, 2019;Shi et al, 2019). Moreover, excessive focused search reduces the sensitivity of RIEs to market dynamics and frontier technologies, and even leads to the dilemma of "cognitive locking" (Levinthal and March, 1993).…”

“…resource base and relationship channels) (Sarasvathy, 2001). Focused search can easily form a fixed search path or mode (Li et al, 2019), which cannot satisfy the diversified knowledge needs of means-oriented radical innovation because of two possible reasons. First, RIEs expand knowledge base through alliance or cooperation (Patel et al, 2014;Del Giudice and Maggioni, 2014), consolidating their core capabilities and promoting firms with external stakeholders to solve problems together to reduce their reliance on leading firms for imitation and innovation (Wu et al, 2020).…”

“…However, most export-oriented enterprises are overly dependent on the GVC and lack core competitiveness (Chin et al , 2016). Several Chinese scholars (Li et al , 2019) claim that search broadly benefits the RIE radical innovation while others argues that search deeply may promote incremental innovation (Wu and Wei, 2013). As a result, identifying, searching and using external knowledge sources are becoming the important task for RIEs.…”