A sustainable development perspective on cooperative culture, knowledge flow, and innovation network governance performance

Abstract

The contemporary sustainable development imperative sees enterprises seeking competitive advantages in innovation networks, the distinguishing features of which are continuous interaction and knowledge flow between participants. As an informal governance mechanism, cooperative culture influences the stability and durability of the members' interactions. Knowledge flow is a core network activity that is highly dependent on the cultural environment. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether innovation governance performance is affected by cooperative culture and knowledge flow. How do they play an influential role? We use structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze the linear relationships among the three variables: cooperative culture, knowledge flow, and governance performance. The results suggest that knowledge flow has a mediating effect on the relationship between cooperative culture and governance performance. We also use fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to explore how cooperative culture and knowledge flow combined can influence governance performance. The results indicate that different combinations of cooperative culture and knowledge flow lead to different levels of governance performance, with two paths leading to high governance performance, which are fit creation-oriented and compatible sharing-oriented paths. These findings have significant implications for improving innovation governance performance and their sustainable development.