LAUSR

This article focuses on innovation collaboration and examines the different roles of the two types of innovation collaboration on firms’ innovation performance from the perspective of the two types of knowledge distance. Based on this logic, the article also assesses whether the effects of these two types of collaboration are conditional on a firm's connections to the existing institutional structure in emerging markets. The regression results reveal that both collaboration with science-based partners and collaboration with foreign business partners are positively related to a firm's innovation performance, while the effect of collaboration with science-based partners is weaker. Our article also shows that a firm's connections to the institutional structure positively moderate the influence of collaboration with foreign business partners, while they negatively moderate the influence of collaboration with science-based partners. This article contributes to the existing research on innovation collaboration by providing a theoretical framework for understanding the distinct effects of collaborating with different types of partners.