How Does Applying Artificial Intelligence Influence Firms’ Ambidextrous (Exploitative and Exploratory) Innovation Performance? Evidence From Chinese A-Share Listed Firms

As a transformative technology, artificial intelligence (AI) is profoundly reshaping corporate innovation practices, creating new opportunities for ambidextrous (exploitative and exploratory) innovation and thereby advancing sustainable competitiveness. Drawing on ambidextrous theory and adopting a resource-based perspective, this study employs panel data from Chinese A-share listed firms in the period 2014–2023 to examine the relationship between and the mechanism of action of AI application on corporate exploitative and exploratory innovation performance. It further explores the moderating effect of data resources. The findings reveal that AI application significantly enhances both exploitative and exploratory innovation performance. The improvement in corporate research and development (R&D) efficiency and the optimization of labor structures play mediating roles in the relationship between AI application and both exploitative and exploratory innovation. Moreover, firms’ data resources strengthen the positive impact of AI on exploitative innovation while weakening its effect on exploratory innovation. Overall, this study provides novel insights into how traditional enterprises can leverage AI applications to foster ambidextrous innovation and achieve sustainable competitive advantages.