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The impact of cooperative communication on co-innovation performance: the mediating role of knowledge sharing

Wenpei Fang (School of Management, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China)
Liang Wan (School of Public Affairs, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China)
Lei Zhou (School of Public Affairs, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China)

Chinese Management Studies

ISSN: 1750-614X

Article publication date: 16 January 2024

129

Abstract

Purpose

Effective cooperative communication and knowledge management capabilities are particularly important in the cross-team cooperation. Based on the social exchange theory, this paper aims to further explore the role and influence mechanism of cooperative communication and knowledge sharing on co-innovation performance in open innovation projects (OIPs).

Design/methodology/approach

This paper takes China’s high-tech enterprises as the research object by using a paired questionnaire survey based on 168 pairs of OIPs. Hayes’ PROCESS programme and the bootstrap technique are used to test the hypothesis model and the significance of the mediation effect.

Findings

This study finds that cooperative communication is an effective mechanism for the internal and external interaction of OIPs. Knowledge sharing plays an intermediary role in the relationship between cooperative communication and co-innovation performance; both explicit knowledge sharing and tacit knowledge sharing have a significant positive impact on co-innovation performance. And the impact of cooperative communication on co-innovation performance is based on effectively promoting the knowledge sharing of partners.

Originality/value

This research incorporates cooperative communication, knowledge sharing and co-innovation performance into a unified research framework to study the co-innovation at the project level, enriches the research scenario on the mechanism of cooperative behaviour, deepens the understanding of the role and influence mechanism of cooperative communication and knowledge sharing on co-innovation performance in OIPs, verifies the mediating role of knowledge sharing to co-innovation, and also helps extend the social exchange theory to a new research setting.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (72204243); the Humanities and Social Science Research Project of the Ministry of Education of China (20YJC630138); the New Liberal Arts Fund of University of Science and Technology of China (FSSF-A-230317); and the Special Fund Project for Science and Technology Innovation Strategy and Soft Science of Anhui Province (202206f01050009).

Citation

Fang, W., Wan, L. and Zhou, L. (2024), "The impact of cooperative communication on co-innovation performance: the mediating role of knowledge sharing", Chinese Management Studies, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/CMS-08-2022-0284

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited

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