Title: Exporting and innovation in a digital age: an attention-based perspective

Authors: Yunwen Shao; Wei Xie

Addresses: Department of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Strategy, School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China ' Department of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Strategy, School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

Abstract: How does exporting drive innovation? Existing studies provide limited insights into this question, particularly from the perspective of managerial cognition within firms. This paper revisits the three core premises of the attention-based view proposed by Ocasio (1997) to explore the mechanisms by which export activities influence innovation. Drawing on an attention-allocation perspective, we reveal that export intensity exhibits an inverted U-shaped effect on innovation performance. High product concentration amplifies this curvilinear relationship by focusing managerial attention on the main product. Conversely, a decentralised organisational structure, characterised by multiple operating units, mitigates or reverses the inverted U-shaped effect. In the context of digital transformation, the relationship between export intensity and innovation performance becomes more pronounced.

Keywords: attention-based view; ABV; exporting; innovation performance; digital transformation; product concentration; multiple operating units; China.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2025.145484

International Journal of Technology Management, 2025 Vol.98 No.1, pp.78 - 104

Received: 04 Apr 2024
Accepted: 11 Nov 2024
Published online: 01 Apr 2025 *

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