The Impact of Knowledge Power on Enterprise Breakthrough Innovation: From the Perspective of Boundary-Spanning Dual Search

Abstract

Breakthrough innovation is key for enterprises to achieve extraordinary development, transformation and upgrading. In the open innovation environment, breakthrough innovation activities are considered to be closely related to enterprise knowledge power and external search strategies. However, there has been no systematic empirical study to explore the internal relationships among the three factors mentioned above. Based on resource dependence theory, this paper explored the impact of knowledge power on enterprise breakthrough innovation from the perspective of boundary-spanning dual search, and examined the moderating effect of absorptive capacity. Using the sample data of 239 knowledge intensive enterprises from China, this paper empirically tested the research hypothesis. The results showed that: (1) the two dimensions of knowledge power (including knowledge control and knowledge influence) have a significant positive impact on enterprise breakthrough innovation; (2) the breadth and depth of boundary-spanning search play a mediating role between knowledge power and enterprise breakthrough innovation; (3) enterprise absorptive capacity significantly strengthens the positive effect of boundary-spanning search on enterprise breakthrough innovation. This study clarified the relationship between knowledge power and breakthrough innovation and provided theoretical support for enterprises to actively take advantage of knowledge power to improve their breakthrough innovation performance.