The Effect of Knowledge Management Strategies on the Financial Performance of Knowledge-Based Agricultural Companies in Khorasan Razavi Province: Analysis of the Mediating Role of Innovation Capabilities and Corporate Social Responsibility

Background: Knowledge-based companies are known as drivers of the economic wheel of developed and developing countries.The performance of these companies, especially in the agricultural sector, affects the future performance of the country's economy.Hence, examining factors affecting financial performance, as the most important indicator in evaluating the performance of companies, has always been of interest.In addition to external factors and economic, social, and climatic conditions and policies and plans to support these companies, management factors also significantly impact their financial performance.Organizations adopt different policies and strategies in using their resources, and choosing appropriate strategies puts companies on the right path of progress and development.In today's knowledge-oriented world, the effect of knowledge and knowledge management on the performance of companies is not hidden for the elite.Knowledge management (Heenkenda et al.) strategies can be understood as special programs designed to help an organization manage information, data, and knowledge for the benefit of the organization and its stakeholders.Applying the knowledge exploitation strategy puts the existing knowledge in the field of exploitation, and the knowledge exploration strategy paves the way for development and progress by discovering hidden knowledge.On the other hand, the current age is the age of innovation, and the ability to innovate is a gift that organizations make their progress and development more possible.On the other hand, sustainability and creating a common competitive advantage have led organizations to commit to environmental, social, and economic responsibility while the most important performance expected by investors is the company's financial performance.Therefore, the desire and insistence of business units have been drawn to fulfill corporate social responsibility (CSR) in environmental, social, and economic dimensions and its significant impact on their popularity and financial performance.In the meantime, the simultaneous use of exploitation and exploration knowledge management strategies, known as "organizational ambidexterity", and the mediating effect of influencing factors, such as the capabilities of innovation and CSR, on financial performance can be a challenge that agricultural knowledge-based companies are facing in a new era to create a sustainable competitive advantage.Therefore, this research aims to investigate the effect of choosing knowledge management strategies on financial performance and the mediation of innovation capabilities and corporate social responsibility in knowledgebased agricultural companies in Khorasan Razavi Province.Methods: This is applied research based on the purpose and a descriptive post-event and quantitative study based on data collection and methodology, respectively.The research statistical population consisted of more than 200 managers of knowledge-based agricultural companies in Khorasan Razavi Province, determined by simple random sampling with a sample size of 127 people according to Morgan's table.A questionnaire adapted from articles (González-Ramos, Guadamillas, et al., 2023;Ramos et al., 2018) was used to collect data.The face validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by scientific elites and university professors, and its convergence and divergence were confirmed using Fornell and Larcker (1981) and HTMT methods.The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed based on Cronbach's alpha coefficients and composite reliability.SPSS and SMART PLS-3 software were used for processing.Results: In this research, knowledge management strategies, innovation capabilities, and corporate social responsibility each had a positive and significant effect on the financial performance of agricultural knowledge-based companies, with a confidence factor of 95%.Their significance coefficients are 2.11, 3.18, and 2.16, respectively.Innovation capabilities mediated the effect of knowledge management strategies on financial performance with a significant coefficient of 2.84, and the mediation of corporate social responsibility in the effect