Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV), this study examines the differing roles of top-level and operating-level interpersonal ties between foreign and domestic partners in joint venture innovation. Based on dyadic data collected from top-level and operating-level boundary spanners in 179 international joint ventures (IJVs) (a total of 358 boundary spanners), our results indicate that while top-level interpersonal ties have positive effects on both exploratory and exploitative innovation, operating-level interpersonal ties have a greater positive effect on exploitative innovation than on exploratory innovation. Furthermore, we find that knowledge exchange and knowledge integration mediate the relationship between interpersonal ties and innovation. Specifically, knowledge exchange mediates the relationship between operating-level interpersonal ties and exploitative innovation, whereas knowledge integration mediates the relationship between top-level/operating-level interpersonal ties and exploratory innovation.
