Search strategies and high-tech firms’ innovation performance: the moderating effects of government subsidies and market-supporting institutions

Qingwen Bo (), Feng Guo (), Bo Zou () and Wei Liu ()
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Qingwen Bo: Qingdao University
Feng Guo: Tianjin University
Bo Zou: Sun Yat-Sen University
Wei Liu: Qingdao University

Scientometrics, 2025, vol. 130, issue 9, No 3, 4815-4847

Abstract: Abstract Innovation is crucial for a firm’s development and requires substantial search activities for heterogeneous knowledge. Drawing on search strategies and institutional theory, this study explores the relationship between search strategies and innovation performance in high-tech small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) while considering two moderators of government subsidies and market-supporting institutions. Next, we empirically tested our proposed hypotheses by collecting data on 268 listed high-tech SMEs, with a total number of 1482 firm-year observations, and applied the negative binomial regression method in our analysis. Our analysis results revealed that both search breadth and depth had inverted U-shaped effects on SMEs’ innovation performance. We further found that the curves were steeper in firms with more government subsidies and flatter in firms with high levels of market-supporting institutions. The discussion includes the study’s theoretical contributions and implications for organizational management.

Keywords: SMEs; Government subsidies; Market-supporting institutions; Search breadth; Search depth; Innovation performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s11192-025-05398-9

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