Influence of social capital of innovation network on innovation - the moderating effect of knowledge sharing and knowledge diffusion

Using patent data from high-tech firms in China from the years 2007 to 2018 as a sample, this study constructs three networks of firm innovation, knowledge-sharing, and knowledge-diffusion to investigate the impact of social capital on exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation. The results indicate that, first, there exists an inverted U-shaped correlation between social capital, exploratory innovation, and exploitative innovation. Second, the knowledge-sharing network has a moderating effect only on the correlation between cognitive capital and exploratory innovation. Third, the knowledge-diffusion network moderates the correlation between social capital of innovation network and different kinds of innovation. This study expands current knowledge on the connotation of social capital theory in innovation networks, and the findings have important practical implications for how firms in various fields use social capital to achieve efficient innovation.