Abstract: Based on the knowledge based view, social network theory and absorptive capability theory, this paper examines the impact of enterprise collaboration network expansion (close expansion and far expansion) on enterprise’ exploratory and exploitative innovation performance, and the mediating role of enterprise knowledge recombination (adjacency knowledge recombination and non-adjacency knowledge recombination). Using 179 enterprises in communication equipment industry to empirically test the research hypothesis, the study finds that enterprises’ close expansion can improve their exploitative innovation performance; enterprises’ far expansion can improve their exploratory innovation performance. Further research shows that the non-adjacency knowledge recombination plays a mediating role in the relationship between far expansion and exploratory innovation performance. This study demonstrates the realization path of enterprises’ dual innovation performance from dynamic perspective, and reveals the inner mechanism of how collaboration dynamics impacts enterprises’ dual innovation performance.

Key words: collaboration network expansion, knowledge recombination, dual innovation performance, communication equipment industry