외부 탐색 ․ 협력의 범위와 혁신성과의 역-U자형 관계: 조직 혁신과 ICT 혁신 도입의 조절효과

In recent years, rapid changes in the environment are increasing the uncertainty of the business environment. In response, it is important for firms to generate innovation not only to adapt to the changing environment but also to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. To innovate, firms can no longer rely solely on internal knowledge, and accordingly, the importance of strategies to effectively explore external sources is increasing. Therefore, in this study, the effects of the breadth of external search and collaboration on innovation performance were analyzed, and the moderating effects of the adoption of organizational innovation and ICT innovation was analyzed in consideration of the fact that the effect may vary depending on the resources and capabilities of the firm in the external search and collaboration process. In this study, an empirical analysis was conducted using data from 2,190 firms in the manufacturing sector from the Korean Innovation Survey (KIS) provided by Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI). As a result of the analysis, it was found that the breadth of external search and collaboration had an inverse U-shaped relationship with innovation performance. In addition, as a result of analyzing the moderating effect of organizational innovation and ICT innovation, it was analyzed that the inverse U-shaped curve was raised. These findings suggest that there is a need to adopt new practices and systems of management and technologies and systems of ICT in order to efficiently and effectively search and absorb knowledge when firms search for external knowledge extensively.