Crossing the Valley of Death: The Mechanism Through Which Searching Drives Green Product Development

Many green technology innovations developed by academic institutions struggle to cross the “Valley of Death” (VoD), failing to achieve commercialization. Boundary-spanning green technology search (BGTS), as an inter-organizational mechanism facilitating the interaction of green technology knowledge between firms and external stakeholders, can bridge the gap between green scientific research and the commercialization of green products. Drawing on the resource orchestration theory and recombinant search theory, this study empirically analyzed data from 313 Chinese manufacturing enterprises to explore the pathway through which BGTS promotes green product development performance (GPDP) and examines the chain mediating role of knowledge coupling and green technology commercialization capability (GTCC), as well as the moderating role of digital technology adoption and product complexity. The findings reveal that the relationship between BGTS and GPDP is sequentially mediated first by knowledge coupling and then by GTCC. Digital technology adoption positively moderates the BGTS-GPDP relationship. Product complexity moderates the BGTS-GPDP relationship in an inverted U-shape. This study elucidates the micro-mechanism underlying the commercialization of green technologies, providing both theoretical insights and practical guidance for the green and high-quality transformation of manufacturing enterprises.