Sources of knowledge and innovation for sustainable development: A multifaceted perspective

How and when internal and external sources of knowledge impact green innovation outcomes for sustainable development remain unclear. This study goes beyond examining their direct effects and takes a multifaceted approach to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how the two sources of knowledge influence sustainable development outcomes. This includes exploring the balanced effect and combined effect of the two sources of knowledge, as well as the synergistic effect of the balanced and combined fits. Furthermore, from the perspective of contingency, this study also proposes a non-linear moderating role of interpersonal relation-specific investments in the knowledge source-green innovation link. Based on the survey of Chinese heavily polluted and high energy-consuming industry, adopting regression analysis and hierarchical moderated method to test the hypotheses, our findings show that not only the two sources of knowledge boost green innovation outcomes, but the balanced and combined fits of them can also promote green innovation outcomes. Moreover, high levels of balanced and combined fits can yield synergistic effect. In addition, the non-linear moderating effects of the external/internal interpersonal relation-specific investments are also revealed. Thus, this research expands our integrated understanding of knowledge sources mainly by unveiling the balanced and combined fits of them, and their synergistic benefits as well as the inverted U moderating effect of the interpersonal relation-specific investments in green innovation.