关键词: 探索式创新, 合作网络, 协同演化, 网络资本, 多层网络

Abstract: Collaborative networks have become an important resource channel for firms involved in exploratory innovation. While research on the unidirectional relationship between the two has matured, there is limited discussion on their co-evolution and the factors influencing this dynamic. Based on a network capital perspective, this paper constructs a multilayer network using the invention patent data of 145 firms in the field of artificial intelligence, from 2002 to 2022. It examines the co-evolutionary mechanism between exploratory innovation and collaborative network through the stochastic actor-oriented model, exploring the effects of the inventor network, knowledge network, and the ego-network of firms. The findings show a co-evolutionary relationship between exploratory innovation and collaborative networks, shaped by social selection and social influence. In this co-evolution context, the positive impact of the small-world structure in the inventor network on exploratory innovation, as well as its negative impact on collaborative network, is mitigated through neutralization. Additionally, this paper highlights that the positive effects of knowledge network size, firm ego-network efficiency, and recombinant distance on both exploratory innovation and collaborative network expansion are further strengthened. These results provide a novel approach and perspective for research on innovation networks and have practical implications for firms engaged in collaborative innovation activities.

Key words: exploratory innovation, collaborative network, co-evolution, network capital, multilayer network