Title: Influence of social capital of innovation network on innovation - the moderating effect of knowledge sharing and knowledge diffusion

Authors: Xin Jin; Min Zhang; Guanghua Sun; Tor Eriksson

Addresses: School of Information, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, 100081, China; Ministry of Education, Engineering Research Center of State Financial Security, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, 100081, China ' School of Information, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, 100081, China; Ministry of Education, Engineering Research Center of State Financial Security, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, 100081, China ' School of Information, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, 100081, China ' Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University, Aarhus V, 8210, Denmark

Abstract: Using patent data from high-tech firms in China from the years 2007 to 2018 as a sample, this study constructs three networks of firm innovation, knowledge-sharing, and knowledge-diffusion to investigate the impact of social capital on exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation. The results indicate that, first, there exists an inverted U-shaped correlation between social capital, exploratory innovation, and exploitative innovation. Second, the knowledge-sharing network has a moderating effect only on the correlation between cognitive capital and exploratory innovation. Third, the knowledge-diffusion network moderates the correlation between social capital of innovation network and different kinds of innovation. This study expands current knowledge on the connotation of social capital theory in innovation networks, and the findings have important practical implications for how firms in various fields use social capital to achieve efficient innovation.

Keywords: innovation network; social capital; exploratory innovation; exploitative innovation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2024.135235

International Journal of Technology Management, 2024 Vol.94 No.1, pp.103 - 134

Received: 15 Sep 2021
Received in revised form: 29 Jul 2022
Accepted: 16 Sep 2022
Published online: 03 Dec 2023 *

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