IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/teinso/v84y2026ics0160791x25002660.html

Impact of partners' geographic distance and technological similarity on firms' digital innovation performance: Evidence from the Chinese automobile industry

Author

Listed:
  • Yang, Siqi
  • Lin, Yan
  • lv, Shiwen
  • Wang, Shutian

Abstract

Digital technology is fundamentally reshaping innovation processes and partner selection dynamics. We examine how collaborative geographic distance and technological similarity influence firms' innovation performance within the digital innovation context. We also investigate the moderating roles of firms' recombinative potential and partner network position. Analyzing a sample of Chinese automobile firms, we reveal an inverted U-shaped relationship between geographic distance and innovation performance, whereas technological similarity exerts a positive linear effect with temporal heterogeneity. Furthermore, recombinative potential positively (negatively) moderates the distance-performance (similarity-performance) relationship. Conversely, partner network position negatively (positively) moderates the distance-performance (similarity-performance) effect. This study contributes by empirically establishing partner selection's distinct impacts (geography and technology) within the digital innovation context, revealing geographic distance's non-linear effect. It advances knowledge recombination and innovation network theories by uncovering the dual (positive/negative) moderating influence of recombinative potential and partner network position. For automotive industry practitioners, the findings provide clarity on digital innovation partner selection strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang, Siqi & Lin, Yan & lv, Shiwen & Wang, Shutian, 2026. "Impact of partners' geographic distance and technological similarity on firms' digital innovation performance: Evidence from the Chinese automobile industry," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:teinso:v:84:y:2026:i:c:s0160791x25002660
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2025.103076
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160791X25002660
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techsoc.2025.103076?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • C50 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - General
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:teinso:v:84:y:2026:i:c:s0160791x25002660. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/technology-in-society .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.