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Open research questions in Innovation and Knowledge Management

582 gap statements mined from Innovation and Knowledge Management papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 6,248 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.

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What the literature leaves open

  • The lack of understanding of knowledge flow mechanisms in digitally transforming clusters. The need for a systematic approach to innovation ecosystem cultivation. The gap in the literature on the relationship between knowledge flow and innovation performance.

    Knowledge flow mechanisms and innovation ecosystem cultivation strategies in the digital transformation of advanced manufacturing clusters · 2026 · DOI

  • The paper identifies a gap in the literature on innovation in emerging economies, which has largely focused on contemporaneous institutional conditions. There is a lack of understanding of how historical economic institutions from the pre-liberalization era continue to shape firms' actions in the post-liberalization period.

    Historical institutional embeddedness and innovation in India: the moderating role of contemporary industry conditions · 2026 · DOI

  • This supports the argument that dynamic capabilities in modern supply chains are inherently interfirm rather than firm-centric, and explains why studies reporting direct IT–flexibility links have produced inconsistent results. First, the findings highlight that investments in IT alone are insufficient to achieve MF.

    From IT Capability to Manufacturing Flexibility: The Role of Knowledge Acquisition and Customer–Supplier Integration · 2026 · DOI

  • The research must also address the challenge of omitted variables. The paper notes the challenge of limited disclosure of R&D and advertising expenses in Chinese listed firms.

    What drives variation in strategic distinctiveness? The opposing effects of temporal and spatial myopia · 2026 · DOI

  • The literature on strategic distinctiveness has not fully explained the variation in strategic distinctiveness under similar contexts. Prior research has not considered the effects of temporal and spatial myopia on strategic distinctiveness. The study aims to address this gap by examining the opposing effects of temporal and spatial myopia.

    What drives variation in strategic distinctiveness? The opposing effects of temporal and spatial myopia · 2026 · DOI

  • The study needs to address the issue of heterogeneity in the sample firms.

    Risk-taking or risk-avoiding: digital attention and ambidextrous innovation · 2026 · DOI

  • It notes that prior findings regarding the relationship between capabilities and environment often appear fragmented or inconsistent. The study suggests that a configurational perspective is necessary to understand the relationship between dynamic capabilities and environmental opportunity conditions.

    Decoding the capability–opportunity nexus: causal recipes for technological innovation · 2026 · DOI

  • The divergent moderating roles of these two environmental dimensions offer a more nuanced explanation for the inconsistent findings reported in earlier research. Recent research has begun to recognize that environmental uncertainty plays a critical role in the success of firms’ digital strategy deployment, yet the empirical evidence remains mixed.

    The Past Shapes the Present: Competitive Experience and Digital Orientation · 2026 · DOI

  • ESG management mainly focuses on measurements such as ESG activities, disclosure, and ratings, but studies that directly present institutional arrangements at the company level are lacking.

    A Strategic Pathway from ESG Management to Innovation: The Serial Mediating Roles of Absorptive Capacity and Dynamic Capability · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research should explore these factors by including a broader sample of enterprises from different institutional and cultural contexts, as well as investigating the long-term impact of AI adoption on innovation performance.

    Artificial Intelligence Technology, Organizational Learning Capability, and Corporate Innovation Performance: Evidence from Chinese Specialized, Refined, Unique, and Innovative Enterprises · 2025 · DOI

  • Future research should address these limitations through extended longitudinal designs that enable stronger causal inference and inclusion of organizations with unsuccessful AI adoption experiences to provide more comprehensive understanding of success and failure factors.

    AI Integration in Fundamental Logistics Components: Advanced Theoretical Framework for Knowledge Process Capabilities and Dynamic Capabilities Hybridization · 2025 · DOI

  • To verify and enrich the generalizability of the results, future research could examine similar links across different cultural, institutional, and economic circumstances.

    The effects of degree centrality and process innovation in the relationship of supplier participation and innovation performance of SMEs · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research could address these limitations by expanding to international markets, developing more comprehensive innovation measures, and conducting longitudinal studies with richer organizational variables.

    From Technological Integration to Sustainable Innovation: How Diversified Mergers and Acquisitions Portfolios Catalyze Breakthrough Technologies · 2024 · DOI

  • Despite the acknowledged role of board interlocks in knowledge transfer, the role of IT interlocks in transferring IT knowledge has not been studied.

    Board Interlocks with Information Technology Firms and Innovation Outcomes: A Resource Dependence Perspective · 2024 · DOI

  • Annual data also provide limited information about the sequence and timing of these relationships.

    Individual Investors’ Innovation Attention and Breakthrough Innovation in Digital Open Systems: Evidence from Manufacturing Firms · 2026 · DOI

  • The transition toward a circular economy (CE) requires organizations to develop environmentally responsible innovation practices; however, limited research has explained how knowledge management (KM) practices facilitate eco-conscious open innovation (EOI), particularly within small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) in emerging economies.

    Ecocentric approach for knowledge management and eco-conscious open innovation for a circular economy: leveraging intellectual capital · 2026 · DOI

  • Moreover, evidence from Pakistani manufacturing SMEs provides insights from an underexplored emerging-economy context and offers practical implications for organizations seeking to strengthen intellectual capital and advance eco-conscious innovation for circular economy objectives.

    Ecocentric approach for knowledge management and eco-conscious open innovation for a circular economy: leveraging intellectual capital · 2026 · DOI

  • Yet, a conceptually grounded and empirically informed innovation capacity framework to guide and enhance the innovation performance of NTFP enterprises remains lacking.

    A framework for assessing innovation capacity in non-timber forest product enterprises · 2026 · DOI

  • However, its application in international B2B remains unexplored, especially in culturally diverse industries.

    DEVELOPING AI-ENABLED DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES FOR B2B INTERNATIONAL MARKETING: A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY OF PETROCHEMICAL FIRMS IN NORWAY AND CHINA · 2026 · DOI

  • By focusing on an underexplored African emerging economy characterized by institutional constraints and limited digital maturity, the study seeks to extend understanding of how DMCs create value and improve competitiveness in structurally constrained B2B environments.

    Linking digital marketing capabilities, innovation and firm performance in emerging B2B markets: evidence from Togo · 2026 · DOI

  • Static biform game models cannot capture the evolution of alliance relationships and learning processes over time. The inability to explain how today's distribution scheme influences future resource investments and willingness to cooperate.

    Technology-resource interaction innovation decisions in small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprise alliances: A dynamic biform game model · 2026 · DOI

  • However, despite its potential significance, empirical research linking OI, DC and sustainable manufacturing performance (SMP) remains relatively scarce, especially concerning the simultaneous minimization of environmental impact, economic viability and social acceptability.

    Innovation dynamics and sustainability in manufacturing: leveraging open innovation and dynamic capabilities · 2026 · DOI

  • Further research could explore the application of the dynamic model to other industries, - The study suggests examining the impact of different policy interventions on knowledge flow, - Investigating the role of digital infrastructure in facilitating knowledge flow, - Examining the relationship between knowledge flow and innovation performance in other…

    Knowledge flow mechanisms and innovation ecosystem cultivation strategies in the digital transformation of advanced manufacturing clusters · 2026 · DOI

  • Investigate whether DOI has a moderating effect on the relationship between DA and ambidextrous innovation in other contexts, - Examine the effects of firms' equity balance on the relationship between DA and ambidextrous innovation, - Explore the influence of power distribution on the relationship between DA and ambidextrous…

    Risk-taking or risk-avoiding: digital attention and ambidextrous innovation · 2026 · DOI

  • This study extends the digital marketing and Dynamic Capabilities literature by providing evidence from an underexplored African B2B context.

    Linking digital marketing capabilities, innovation and firm performance in emerging B2B markets: evidence from Togo · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Innovation and Knowledge Management

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Open questions raised by papers listed on this page include: (1) The lack of understanding of knowledge flow mechanisms in digitally transforming clusters (“Knowledge flow mechanisms and innovation ecosystem cultivation strategies in…”, 2026); (2) There is a lack of understanding of how historical economic institutions from the pre-liberalization era continue to shape firms' actions in the post-liberalization period (“Historical institutional embeddedness and innovation in India: the moderating…”, 2026); (3) ESG management mainly focuses on measurements such as ESG activities, disclosure, and ratings, but studies that directly present institutional arrangements at the company level are lacking (“A Strategic Pathway from ESG Management to Innovation: The Serial Mediating…”, 2026); (4) To verify and enrich the generalizability of the results, future research could examine similar links across different cultural, institutional, and economic circumstances (“The effects of degree centrality and process innovation in the relationship of…”, 2026); (5) Its application in international B2B remains unexplored, especially in culturally diverse industries (“DEVELOPING AI-ENABLED DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES FOR B2B INTERNATIONAL MARKETING: A…”, 2026). 582 gap statements have been mined from Innovation and Knowledge Management papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 6,248 papers on the topic; the gaps come from whichever of those papers state one. They are mostly the research gaps the authors state and the papers' abstracts, plus future-work, limitations and challenges passages. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one, so you can read the original claim in context.

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