Data asset accumulation and corporate innovation risk: a knowledge governance infrastructure perspective

Purpose This study aims to investigate whether and how data asset accumulation reduces corporate innovation risk. Moving beyond the conventional focus on resource constraints and governance structures as determinants of innovation risk, this paper positions data assets as a knowledge governance infrastructure that reshapes how firms search for, integrate and convert knowledge in innovation decision-making. Design/methodology/approach This paper defines corporate innovation risk as whether the rate of expansion in R&D investment matches the rate of growth in commercial returns. Using a panel data set of Chinese A-share listed firms from 2012 to 2023, this study uses a two-way fixed effects linear probability model. Findings Data asset accumulation significantly reduces innovation risk. A one-standard-deviation increase in data asset accumulation lowers the probability of R&D-return mismatch by 3.8 percentage points, equivalent to 6.2 per cent of the sample mean. Two parallel mechanism channels are identified: data assets both expand the potential for knowledge recombination potential and accelerate the digital transformation of knowledge management. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that this effect is primarily concentrated among high-tech firms, innovation-intensive firms, and firms with low technological proximity. Originality/value This paper defines data assets as a form of knowledge governance infrastructure – a model that provides structural support for knowledge flow, independent of managers’ cognitive bandwidth and the complexity of organizational design, thereby expanding the body of research on the relationship between knowledge governance and innovation risk.