Intelligent Development, Knowledge Breadth, and High-Tech Enterprise Innovation: The Moderating Role of Knowledge Absorptive Capacity

Innovation serves as the cornerstone for high-quality development in high-tech enterprises, with intelligent development emerging as a central aspect of innovation efforts. However, how intelligent development promotes the innovative development of high-tech enterprises is still a topic of continuous debate and exploration. By integrating enterprise innovation theory and knowledge-based theory, this paper constructs a theoretical framework to examine the influence of intelligent development on high-tech enterprise innovation. Through an analysis of 694 listed high-tech enterprises on China’s manufacturing A-share market from 2013 to 2021, we empirically investigated the effects of mediating mechanisms and moderating effects of intelligent development on high-tech enterprise innovation. The results show that intelligent development significantly boosts high-tech enterprise innovation. Knowledge breadth plays a mediating role in the relationship between intelligent development and high-tech enterprise innovation, indicating that intelligent development promotes high-tech enterprise innovation by enhancing knowledge breadth. Additionally, knowledge absorptive capacity can strengthen the impact of knowledge breadth on high-tech enterprise innovation, that is, the stronger the knowledge absorptive capacity, the greater the impact of knowledge breadth on high-tech enterprise innovation. The conclusion of this paper provides a theoretical basis and practical guidance for high-tech enterprises regarding how to better use intelligent technology for innovation. Relevant enterprises can strengthen their knowledge management and mobility strategies and fully utilize the potential of intelligent technology to achieve more innovative and competitive development.