Abstract

Under the current complex and competitive economic environment, more and more firms are embedding themselves into symbiotic networks for value co-creation, since this has become a good strategy to obtain competitive advantages. Thus, it is important to examine the impacts of firms’ embeddedness in symbiotic networks on value co-creation in innovation ecosystems. This study analyzes the mechanisms and contextual factors of firms’ dual embeddedness (i.e., relational and knowledge embeddedness) in symbiotic networks and how each influences value co-creation within innovation ecosystems. Using a sample of 1,972 observations, our findings show, firstly, that firms’ dual embeddedness in symbiotic networks positively impacts on value co-creation in innovation ecosystems; secondly, that firms’ dual embeddedness in symbiotic networks positively impacts on innovation ecosystem resilience; thirdly, that innovation ecosystem resilience mediates the relationships between firms’ dual embeddedness in symbiotic networks and value co-creation in innovation ecosystems; and, fourthly, that innovative ecological environments positively moderate the relationship between firms’ dual embeddedness and value co-creation in innovation ecosystems. These results not only enrich the theoretical framework concerning value co-creation within innovation ecosystems but also provide managerial suggestions for firms to efficiently enhance the degree of embeddedness in symbiotic networks and build highly resilient innovation ecosystems, thus promoting value co-creation among innovation ecosystem populations.