EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF DIGITAL ECONOMY ON AMBIDEXTROUS INNOVATION CAPABILITIES OF FIRMS: MEDIATING EFFECT OF KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION

Although recognised as useful, ambidextrous innovation also presents unique managerial challenges particularly when exploration and exploitation are pursued simultaneously. The paper aims to explore the forming mechanisms of firm’s ambidextrous innovation capabilities using the main approaches in strategic management. The authors theoretically examine the direct effects of the digital economy (DE) on ambidextrous innovation capabilities and the mediating effect of knowledge acquisition (KA) and use the stepwise regression method to conduct an empirical analysis of 178 high-tech companies listed in China’s A-share market from 2013 to 2019. The empirical results show that DE has significantly promoted the ambidextrous innovation capabilities of firms, and also has a significant positive impact on the balance effect between exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation; DE has a significant positive impact on both external knowledge acquisition (EKA) and internal knowledge creation; KA has a significantly positive effect on exploratory innovation, exploitative innovation and their balance effect, and the effect of KA on exploratory innovation is greater than that on exploitative innovation. Furthermore, KA plays a significantly mediating role in the relationship between DE and exploratory innovation/exploitative innovation. The findings of our study provide insights for knowledge management research and have important guiding significance for promoting ambidextrous innovation capabilities of firms in DE.