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Purpose Although many scholars have found that exploration and exploitation innovation have significantly positive effects on firm performance, it remains to be resolved whether the relationship between the two is still established at different stages of enterprise development and in different competitive contexts. This paper aims to clarify the effect of exploration/exploitation innovation on firm performance in start-ups, and in particular, the mediation role of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and the moderation role of competitive intensity are tested to explore their disturbing effects on above relationship. Design/methodology/approach The authors construct a theoretical framework to analyze and verify the relationship between innovation, EO and firm performance. The hypotheses of this paper are put forward by theoretical inference. In addition to test the hypotheses, 143 questionnaires are collected from technology-oriented start-ups in Hefei National University Science Park. Findings The empirical results show that consistent with previous findings, exploration innovation and exploitation innovation both have positive impact on firm performance; meanwhile, the EO partially mediates the relationship between both innovations and firm performance. What cannot be ignored is that the competition intensity plays a moderation role between EO and firm performance. Originality/value The findings reveal that the impact of innovation activities on corporate performance has been disrupted by EO and competition intensity in start-ups. The work of this paper deepens the understanding of the relationship between innovation, EO, external environment and firm performance, which is of guiding significance to the entrepreneurship management of emerging economies.
Hou et al. (Mon,) studied this question.