Understanding the Efforts of Cross-Border Search and Knowledge Co-Creation on Manufacturing Enterprises’ Service Innovation Performance

Based on the enterprise knowledge-based view, this study follows the basic logic of “knowledge acquisition-knowledge transformation-knowledge creation” to explore the effects of cross-border search and knowledge co-creation on the service innovation performance of manufacturing enterprises. Furthermore, compositional capability is introduced to investigate the moderator in the connection of knowledge co-recreation and service innovation performance. We collected 378 samples from the organizations that are taking servicizing transformation in China’s manufacturing industry. Then we applied structural equation modeling (SEM) to test our research model. The results reveal that both cross-border technological knowledge search and cross-border market knowledge search can significantly improve embedded knowledge co-creation and alliance-based knowledge creation of manufacturing enterprises, and then, directly and indirectly, boost service innovation performance. Compositional capability positively moderates the relationship between embedded knowledge co-creation and service innovation performance. This study provides theoretical and practical guidance for knowledge-based service innovation in China’s manufacturing industry.