The Influence of Network Positions on Exploratory Innovation: An Empirical Evidence from China’s Patent Analysis

Existing studies find that exploratory innovation requires both access to heterogeneous resources for the establishment of novel knowledge combinations and high-quality cooperation to strengthen the absorption of heterogeneous knowledge. Therefore, structural holes and prominent positions exert critical effects on exploratory innovation. Few existing studies have investigated the influences of the two positions on exploratory innovation simultaneously. This study aims to identify the influence of network positions on exploratory innovation and the contingency mechanism. Basing on joint patent filing relationships identification belong to IPC Green Inventory, R&D collaboration networks in China consisted of 215 firms in the technological field of low-carbon energy were constructed. Negative binomial regression was used to analyse the influences of networks positions on exploratory innovation and the moderating effect of network density. Results reveal that network prominence and structural holes have inverted U-shaped effects on exploratory innovation. The simultaneous occupation of prominent positions and structural holes hinders exploratory innovation. Network density exerts positive and negative effects on the relationships between network prominence and exploratory innovation and between structural holes and exploratory innovation, respectively. The conclusions drawn in this study provide a reference for R&D network structural optimization toward exploratory innovation.