Abstract
The global and digital economy has witnessed a rising importance of the service sector. Along with this trend, service innovation has attracted growing academic attention. Service innovation is distinctive from product innovation in the manufacturing sector because service innovation involves more intangible characteristics and requires intensive interaction with partners. Previous studies on the linkage between partner diversity and product innovation indicate that partner diversity is a double-edged sword. How partner diversity matters for service innovativeness remains unclear. Utilizing a sample of 709 service firms in Taiwan, this study investigates how partner domain diversity and geographical diversity influence service innovativeness, and how firm absorptive capacity and scope of firm internationalization moderate the relationship between partner diversity and service innovativeness. The empirical result suggests that firm absorptive capacities and scope of firm internationalization matter for realizing the positive impact of partner diversity on service innovativeness. The study advances research in service innovation and has key implications for management practice.
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