Purpose This study aims to investigate how firms strategically respond to policy uncertainty through patent acquisition. Design/methodology/approach This study draws on panel data of more than 4,000 publicly listed manufacturing firms in China from 2007 to 2020. It distinguishes between perceived and actual policy uncertainty and examines their differential effects on two forms of patent acquisition: exploitative and exploratory. Furthermore, the analysis highlights the moderating roles of cooperative culture and political connections in shaping firms' strategic responses to policy uncertainty through patent acquisition. Findings The results show that perceived policy uncertainty promotes both exploratory and exploitative patent acquisitions as firms seek to enhance information processing. Conversely, actual policy uncertainty inhibits exploratory acquisitions but drives exploitative ones as a defensive retrenchment strategy. Additionally, a cooperative culture negatively moderates these relationships, hindering agile adaptation, while political connections positively moderate them, facilitating resource access and policy insight. Research limitations/implications Theoretically, this study bridges the Theory of Uncertainty Mitigability and the Dynamic Capabilities View, reconciling mixed findings in innovation research. It establishes patent acquisition as a distinct ambidextrous mechanism. Limitations include the focus on Chinese manufacturing firms, which may restrict generalizability to other institutional contexts. Future research could explore these dynamics in different industries or countries with developed patent markets. Practical implications Managers should first diagnose the nature of uncertainty. Under perceived (mitigable) uncertainty, firms should actively acquire patents to seize opportunities; under actual (immitigable) uncertainty, they should pivot to exploitative acquisitions for survival. Managers must also overcome the rigidity of cooperative cultures while leveraging political connections. Policymakers should aim to reduce systemic unpredictability to encourage technology transfer. Originality/value This study offers a novel integration of the Theory of Uncertainty Mitigability and the Dynamic Capabilities View, demonstrating that uncertainty's strategic impact depends on its mitigability. It reconceptualizes patent acquisition as a mechanism for rapid resource orchestration rather than just a transaction. Furthermore, it identifies patent acquisition as a form of external ambidexterity and reveals how internal cognitive (culture) and relational (political connections) micro-foundations determine the efficacy of this adaptive response.
Ye et al. (Tue,) studied this question.