Table 1.

Definition of study variables.

Variable Category	Variable Name	Variable Symbol	Variable Definition
Implicit Variable	Exploitative innovation	Exploitative	R&D expenditures capitalized in the development phase/revenue from main operations
	Exploratory Innovation	Exploratory	(R&D expenditures in the research phase + R&D expenditures expensed in the development phase)/Main operating revenues
Independent Variable	Falling short of performance expectations	HG	The absolute value of the difference between the two when the actual performance of the enterprise is lower than the historical expected performance, and vice versa is 0.
Intermediary Variable	In-depth knowledge search	Depth	The average number of repeated citations of patents by enterprises
	Breadth of knowledge search	Scope	The citation rate of new knowledge in the current year
Control Variable	Performance expectations surplus	HL	The difference between the two is taken when the actual performance of the enterprise is higher than the historical expected performance, and vice versa is taken as 0.
	Enterprise size	SIZE	Natural logarithm of total assets
	gearing	LEV	Total assets/total liabilities
	Nature of enterprise	SOE	1 for state-owned enterprises, 0 otherwise
	Fixed assets as a percentage	FIXED	Fixed Assets/Total Assets
	Total management remuneration	TMTPay1	Natural logarithm of the total compensation of the top three management personnel
	management cost ratio	MFEE	Administrative Expenses/Operating Income
	Number of shares held by shareholders	TOP3	Number of shares held by top three shareholders/total shares
	Financing constraints	WW	−0.091∗(Net Profit + Depreciation)/Total Assets-0.062∗Dividend Payment+0.021∗Long-Term Liabilities/Total Assets-0.044∗ln(Total Assets)+0.102∗Industry Annual Sales Growth Rate-0.035∗Sales Growth Rate
	Founding Years	FirmAge	Logarithmic treatment of the company's years of existence