Government R&D support’s effects on export performance via innovation: An analysis of organizational motivators as moderators

How and under what conditions does government R&D support lead to innovation and in turn increased export activities? We bridge these two relationships which are normally explored separately by creating a linking evolutionary economics based framework which uses variation and selection. We examine the relationship between government R&D support and export intensity, mediated by innovation, in a balanced panel of 289 innovative exporters in China. Leveraging the knowledge-based view, we also explore the roles of financial bonus incentives (an extrinsic motivator) and employee suggestions (an intrinsic motivator) as moderators to contribute to the debate on what type of motivators work best. This study contributes to the export and innovation literatures by showing that government support for R&D facilitates innovation and that innovation in turn facilitates exports. Further, the study shows that both extrinsic and intrinsic motivators moderate the staged relationships, but they affect different stages with bonuses moderating the R&D support – innovation relationship and suggestions moderating the innovation – export relationship.