By integrating knowledge recombination theory, this study aims to examine how firms resolve temporal tensions in new product development (NPD) through recombinant divergence/convergence (RD/RC), moderated by knowledge base dynamics (breadth/depth).
Hypotheses are tested using an unbalanced panel data set comprising 373 Chinese pharmaceutical firms over 21 years (1996–2016) via negative binomial regressions.
RD impedes short-term NPD but fuels long-term growth, while RC exhibits inverse effects. Their interaction shifts from short-term substitution to long-term complementarity. Knowledge breadth (KB) transforms RD from a short-term liability to an asset while amplifying RC’s long-term constraints. Knowledge depth (KD) only attenuates RC’s short-term benefits and long-term drawbacks.
Managers should calibrate recombination strategies to temporal goals, deploying RC for immediate optimization, then transition toward RD for sustainable innovation. Crucially, align knowledge architecture with strategic intent—broad knowledge-based firms should accelerate RD through cross-domain integration, while depth-rich organizations maximize RC via knowledge repurposing.
Pioneering a temporal lens, this research reconceptualizes knowledge recombination as a dynamic process where RC improves short-term efficiency gains but compromises long-term resilience, while RD demands tolerance for initial inefficiencies. And their interaction effects present negative in short-term and positive in long-term, challenging universal positivity assumptions. It advances ambidexterity theory by revealing these time-dependent trade-offs, advocating strategic oscillation over static balance. Crucially, KB and KD exert distinct temporal contingencies, rejecting one-size-fits-all NPD approaches.
