Does separation hurt? The impact of premature termination of R&D alliances on knowledge acquisition and innovation

•Explores the impact of alliance termination on knowledge acquisition and innovation.•Premature termination of R&D alliances reduces innovation outcomes.•Premature termination of R&D alliances has limited effects on external knowledge acquisition.•A large alliance portfolio size reduces the effects of premature termination.•Alliance-specific conditions have little moderating effect on these relationships.