Impact of history imprint on firm innovation strategies: The role of ownership type and information sharing

The impact of history and the use of firms’ past in theoretical models examining firm strategies have garnered increasing attention. Whether firms can benefit from their history imprints to facilitate innovation strategies is an increasingly important, yet under-researched, question. This study aims to fill this gap by examining the effects of history imprint on two distinct innovation strategies: exploitation and exploration. Drawing on the history-informed perspective and imprint theory, we investigate how firm- and strategic-level factors moderate these relationships. Using a survey of manufacturing firms in China and applying hierarchical multiple regressions, we find that, while history imprint positively influences exploitation, it negatively affects exploration. Interestingly, the positive impact of history imprint on exploitation is stronger for family firms, and information sharing attenuates the negative effect on exploration. These results underscore the importance of considering history in innovative decision-making and suggest that firms, particularly family-owned ones, should adopt specific practices to balance the benefits of their history imprints with the need for innovation.