New venture team faultlines and corporate innovation from the perspective of structuration theory

The new venture team (NVT) is pivotal in corporate innovation (CI). This study explores the dual paths of risk-taking and internal controls as mechanisms for the faultline effect at the NVT level by integrating upper echelon and faultline theories. Using a dataset of Growth Enterprise Market-listed firms in China, the study findings reveal a significant negative impact of relationship-related faultlines and a significant positive impact of task-related faultlines on CI. Moreover, redundant resources and the regional institutional environment positively moderate these relationships, thus underscoring their crucial roles in fostering innovation. This study provides novel insights into how structural and contextual factors activate faultline effects, emphasizing the dual nature of social categorization and information processing in innovation processes. Furthermore, the results contribute to faultline theory and CI research by offering actionable strategies to optimize NVT structures and enhance enterprise-level innovation outcomes.