Exploring Motivating Moderators in The Government RD Support-Innovation-Export Mediated Relationship

How and under what conditions does government R&D support lead to innovation and in turn increased export activities? We examine the relationship between government R&D support and export intensity, mediated indirectly by innovation, in a balanced panel of 289 innovative exporters in China. Leveraging the knowledge-based view, we also explore the role of moderator variables in relation to bonus incentives (extrinsic motivators) and employee suggestions (intrinsic motivators). We extend our knowledge of the motivators in the government R&D support-innovation-export mediated relationship, where we found that extrinsic motivators facilitate the R&D support-innovation link, and intrinsic motivators turned out to be effective in innovation-export link. These results have relevance for both innovation and export literature.