The Influence Of TMT Stability On Exploratory Innovation

It is one of the core factors for enterprises to gain competitive advantages and build competitive barriers by strengthening independent innovation ability and continuously realizing high level of innovation output.Exploratory innovation is a creative activity in which enterprises break through the original technology path,seek new knowledge combination,and develop new products and services.It can help enterprises seize market opportunities and occupy the core position of the new demand market.TMT stability affects the consistency of the interests of the executive and the enterprise,and determines whether the enterprise has a long-term vision and can undertake large risks when making investment decisions,so as to further affect the exploratory innovation activities with high cost and long cycle.Existing studies have investigated the influence of TMT stability on exploratory innovation of enterprises,and explored the internal mechanism from the aspects of R&D investment and internal control quality,but paid relatively little attention to the cognitive factors of decision-makers.According to Attention-Based View of the Firm,attention is an important reflection of the values and cognition of decision-makers,and TMT attention determines the outcome of decision-making.Meanwhile,TMT stability,as a characteristic of the players in the attention structure,is an important factor affecting TMT attention,and directly affects the attention allocation on the time focus.Based on this,the introduction of the future-oriented attention of TMT as the mediating variable can provide a new explanation for the internal mechanism of the influence of TMT stability on exploratory innovation.Based on Attention-Based View of the Firm,combined with Upper Echelons Theory,this study takes China’s A-share listed companies from 2012 to 2021 as samples to investigate the influence of TMT stability on exploratory innovation and the mediating role of TMT’s future-oriented attention.The moderating effects of equity incentive and specific assets on the relationship between TMT stability and TMT’s future-oriented attention are further discussed.The findings are as follows.First,TMT stability can improve the willingness of the members to pay attention to the future development of the enterprise and guarantee the continuity of the strategy implementation,thus significantly promoting the exploratory innovation of the enterprise.Second,TMT stability promotes TMT’s future-oriented attention by improving the long-term tendency of the members,and further encourages the enterprise to seek the potential technology and market trends and develop new products,thus promoting the exploratory innovation of the enterprise.Third,equity incentive strengthens the expectation that TMT will benefit from the long-term development of the enterprise due to TMT stability,thus strengthening the promotion of TMT stability to TMT’s future-oriented attention.Fourth,high specific assets strengthen executives’ confidence in the current profitability of the enterprise,and cause long-term executives to upgrade their commitment to the past decision-making responsibilities,reducing their attention to the future of the enterprise,thus weakening the promotion effect of TMT stability on TMT’s future-oriented attention.Fifth,in a highly munificent environment,a large number of opportunities require a stable TMT to provide executive support,and strengthen the futurism of TMT whose interests are more consistent with the enterprise value,so as to promote the enterprise to evaluate and grasp the future market demand more actively.Therefore,The promotion effect of TMT stability on exploratory innovation of enterprises and the mediating effect of TMT’s future-oriented attention is more significant.This study reveals the internal mechanism of the influence of TMT stability on exploratory innovation from the cognitive perspective of attention,and deepens the theoretical research on the relationship between TMT stability and firm innovation.At the same time,two moderating variables,equity incentive and specific assets,are introduced to reveal how other attention structure factors affect the relationship between players and attention allocation in the attention structures,and enrich the relevant research on Attention-Based View of the Firm.The findings of this paper provide reference and enlightenment for enterprises to strengthen the construction of TMT,keep the team relatively stable,promote TMT to pay attention to the long-term development of the enterprise,effectively play the role of strategic direction of management attention,and further improve the level of breakthrough innovation.