›› 2019, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (12): 85-99.

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How does the Network Capability of Focal Firm Affect Cluster Collaborative Innovation? A Mediated Dual Moderation Effect Model

Ni Yuan   

  1. School of Economics and Management, Beijing Information Science & Technology University, Beijing 100192
  • Received:2017-01-23 Online:2019-12-28 Published:2019-12-24

Abstract:

In the context of open innovation, how to drive the collaborative innovation within an industrial cluster has been a hot topic in the area of industrial cluster transformation and updating. Because ofits core position in innovation network, the focal firm was considered as a significant antecedent variable influencing collaborative innovation performance of non-core enterprises. However, the present literatures fail to explain the relationship between the characteristics of focal firms and the cluster collaborative innovation. To fill this gap, from the perspective of network capability, we establish a mechanism model to identify whether, how and when the network capability of focal firms has an effect on the cluster collaborative innovation. Based on the empirical data of 144 focal firms and 358 non-core enterprises gathered from 24 industrial clusters in five different provinces of China, the theoretical hypothesis is verified by the Mplus method. Research results demonstrate that:(1) Network capability is an important factor for core firms leading the cluster collaborative innovation, and the network capability of core firms is positively related to exploratory and exploitative collaborative innovation; (2) Network capability of core firms affects the cluster collaborative innovation via dual network embeddedness; (3) Environment dynamic and knowledge integration capacity of cluster enterprises have a moderated mediation effect on the relationship between network capability of core firms and cluster collaborative innovation, which means that the direct effect of network capability on cluster collaborative innovation is significantly stronger when either environment dynamic or knowledge integration capacity is high; (4) the moderating effect of environmental dynamic is realized partly through the mediating effect of dual network embeddedness, while the moderating effect of knowledge integration capacity is realized fully by the mediating effect of dual network embeddedness. Finally, from the perspective of stakeholders, corresponding management suggestions are proposed for focal firms, the non-core cluster enterprises and government authorities.

Key words: network capacity, dual network embeddedness, collaborative innovation, focal firm, cluster innovation