Knowledge Cluster, Patterns of R&D Collaboration and Exploratory Innovation Performance: An Empirical Study on Chinese Automotive Industry

Abstract

Abstract:

Knowledge is the understructure of innovation. Knowledge elements do not exist independently, instead they are combined together. Based on the theories of knowledge base and synergy innovation, this paper introduces the network analysis method to construct the knowledge network. Based on the perspective of knowledge combination, we use a manual collected database of 738 Chinese automobile manufacturers. This study applies negative binomial regression analysis to empirically analyze the effect of knowledge cluster in knowledge network on exploratory innovation performance, and also investigate the moderating effects of R&D collaboration breadth and depth. The empirical results show that the knowledge cluster has an inverted-U relationship with a firm's exploratory innovation performance. It is also found that R&D collaboration breadth attenuates the inverted-U relationship between knowledge cluster and exploratory innovation performance. Specifically, R&D collaboration breadth mitigates the positive relationship between the firm's knowledge cluster and its exploratory innovation performance, and then mitigates the negative relationship between the firm's knowledge cluster and its exploratory innovation performance. On the other hand, R&D collaboration depth attenuates the positive relationship between knowledge cluster and exploratory innovation performance.

Key words: knowledge network, knowledge cluster, R&D collaboration breadth, R&D collaboration depth, exploratory innovation performance

Xu Luyun, Zeng Deming, Zhang Yunsheng. Knowledge Cluster, Patterns of R&D Collaboration and Exploratory Innovation Performance: An Empirical Study on Chinese Automotive Industry[J]. , 2019, 31(6): 68-76.

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