Han, Chen and Hughes, Paul (2026) Understanding the relationship between proactiveness, business ties, and technological innovations in emerging economies. In: Academy of International Business (AIB) 2026 Annual Meeting, 2026-06-29 - 2026-07-03. (In Press)
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
Whereas business ties are generally regarded as valuable resources that can generate enormous competitive advantages for firms, it remains less known whether and how business ties intervene in the link between proactiveness and firm technological innovation. This study examines how proactiveness influences firm technological innovation via two types of business ties. By differentiating two types of technological innovations (exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation), this study investigates how two types of business ties (competitor ties and cooperator ties) mediate proactiveness and technological innovation in two distinct ways. The results disclose that proactiveness contributes to both exploratory and exploitative innovation, but with a stronger impact on the former. Competitor ties positively mediate the influence of proactiveness on exploratory innovation, whereas cooperator ties are the missing link from proactiveness to exploitative innovation.