Linking Coopetition and Digital Innovation of Manufacturing Firms: Roles of Knowledge Creation Processes and Digital Platform Capability

Purpose While several studies emphasize the importance of innovation platform ecosystems in manufacturing firms’ digital innovation (DI), few analyze the relevance of coopetition (COO) within such ecosystems. Drawing on the knowledge-based view and dynamic capability view, this study aims to investigate the relationship between COO and manufacturers’ DI within the innovation platform ecosystem context, the mediating role of knowledge creation processes (i.e. knowledge exchange [KE] and knowledge combination [KC]) and the moderating role of digital platform capability (DPC). Design/methodology/approach Using a time-lagged two-wave survey of 271 Chinese manufacturing firms acting as complementors in innovation platform ecosystems, the authors tested proposed model using hierarchical regression and bootstrap method. Findings The results of this study suggest that COO has a strong positive association with manufacturers’ DI within the innovation platform ecosystem context. Both KE and KC partially mediate this relationship. Furthermore, the positive associations of COO with KE and KC are both significantly positively moderated by DPC, exhibiting a modest effect magnitude. Originality/value Departing from top-down perspectives of platform owners, this study highlights the proactive role of manufacturing complementors in leveraging COO for DI. This study shifts the locus of tension management from inter-firm arrangements to intra-firm knowledge processes by positioning KE as a decoding mechanism and KC as a protective generative mechanism. Moreover, this paper advances knowledge management and dynamic capability literature by identifying DPC as a knowledge governance boundary condition.