The trade-off between knowledge exploration and exploitation in technological innovation

Purpose This study aims to clarify the effect of team effort allocation between knowledge exploration and exploitation on the generation of extremely good or poor innovations. The influence of previous collaborative experience among team members on the effect of team effort allocation is also investigated to understand the relationship between team members’ collaboration networks and knowledge learning. Design/methodology/approach This study uses data of all patents granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office between 1984 and 2010. The inventors involved in a patent are regarded as members of the focal team. Logistic regression is used to analyze the data. Findings Allocating greater effort to exploration than to exploitation is beneficial to achieving breakthrough innovations despite the risk of generating particularly poor innovations. This benefit increases with collaborative experience among team members. Placing an equal emphasis on knowledge exploration and exploitation is not particularly effective in achieving breakthrough innovations; it is, however, the best strategy for avoiding particularly poor innovations. Originality/value This research not only provides valuable insights for research on innovation and knowledge management by studying the team effort allocation strategy used to achieve breakthroughs and avoid particularly poor innovations but also represents an advancement in bridging two streams of research – knowledge learning and social networks – by highlighting the influence of the team members’ collaborative networks on the effect of team effort allocation between knowledge exploration and exploitation.