Inventor Mobility and Exploratory Innovation: Evidence from Inventor Inflows and Knowledge Networks

Exploratory innovation is highly sensitive to human capital mobility, yet this relationship, particularly in the context of inventor inflow, remains underexplored in the existing literature. This study examines the effect of inventor inflow on firms’ exploratory innovation and the moderating role of knowledge network structures. Using panel data from 311 publicly listed biopharmaceutical firms in China over the period 2003–2023, we identify a robust inverted U-shaped relationship between inventor inflow and exploratory innovation. Furthermore, the number of direct ties among a firm’s knowledge elements intensifies the curvature of this relationship, magnifying both the benefits of moderate inflow and the adverse consequences of excessive inflow. In contrast, indirect knowledge ties flatten the inverted U-shaped relationship by attenuating the marginal effects of inventor inflow at both low-to-moderate and high levels. These findings highlight the contingent nature of inventor inflow effects and demonstrate how internal knowledge structures shape firms’ ability to leverage incoming human capital, while offering actionable implications for human capital management and knowledge integration in the biopharmaceutical industry.