Digital Technology Driving Exploratory Innovation in the Enterprise: A Mediated Model with Moderation

Abstract

Emerging digital technologies, with their great advantages in resource convergence, opportunity identification, supply-demand docking and knowledge sharing, are breaking and subverting traditional business concepts and providing a new impetus and opportunities for enterprise innovation activities. Therefore, it is valuable to explore how digital technology affects exploratory innovation to gain a sustainable competitive advantage in a dynamic and changing market environment. Based on data from Chinese A-share high-tech manufacturing listed companies from 2012 to 2020, this paper empirically tests the impact of digital technology on enterprise exploratory innovation by using a fixed effects negative binomial regression model and further explores the intermediate mechanism and boundary conditions between the two. The results show that digital technology has a significant positive impact on enterprise exploratory innovation, and that knowledge breadth plays a mediating role; high network centrality can effectively strengthen the positive impact of digital technology on enterprise knowledge breadth, thus promoting enterprise exploratory innovation. The conclusion enriches and expands the theoretical and empirical research on the driving effect of digital technology innovation, and provides strong practical guidance for encouraging enterprises to achieve exploratory innovation.