Abstract
This article examined the effects of knowledge search breadth and CEO tenure on success in product innovation. Building on knowledge search literature and attention-based theory, the study posited that the breadth of a firm's external knowledge search has a curvilinear effect on its product innovation success. It further proposed competing predictions about the moderating role of CEO tenure in the relationship. Data on a sample of 1262 Chinese firms across multiple industries provided robust support for the bell-shaped effect of external search breadth. Longer CEO tenure was shown to strengthen the relationship such that firms led by long-serving CEOs gained more innovation benefits from broad technology search than those led by new CEOs.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | dtt009 |
| Pages (from-to) | 65-89 |
| Number of pages | 25 |
| Journal | Industrial and Corporate Change |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 21 Mar 2013 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 28 Feb 2014 |
