Abstract: The choice between explorative innovation and exploitative innovation is critical for high-performing firms’ long-term development. Integrating the performance feedback perspective and attention-based view, it explores the different influential mechanisms of the relative performance above social and historical aspirations on firms’ innovation decision about exploration and exploitation. Based on a panel data of Chinese listed companies from 2011 to 2016, combined with text analysis, the empirical findings show that: on the one hand, the relative performance above social aspiration strengthens TMTs’ attention to exploitative innovation; The lower the consistency of performance feedback based on social and historical aspirations is, the weaker the above relationship is. Meanwhile, the relative performance above historical aspiration strengthens the TMT attention to explorative innovation. The lower the consistency of the two kinds of performance feedback is, the weaker the above relationship is. On the other hand, the TMT attention to innovation plays a full intermediary role for the relationships between the relative performance above aspirations and the innovation outcomes. The research results reveal the internal mechanism of how high-performance companies choose between explorative and exploitative innovations, and provide guidance for how managers and scholars should interpret the relative performance above aspirations.

摘要： 探索和利用式的创新选择对绩优企业的长远发展至关重要。整合绩效反馈理论和注意力基础观，探讨了基于社会和历史期望的绩效顺差对企业创新选择的不同影响机制。基于中国A股上市公司2011到2016年的面板数据，结合文本分析法，研究发现：一方面，基于社会期望的绩效顺差加强了高管团队利用式创新注意力；基于社会和历史期望的绩效反馈越不一致，以上关系越弱。然而，基于历史期望的绩效顺差加强了探索式创新注意力；两种绩效反馈越不一致，上述关系越弱。另一方面，创新注意力在绩效顺差与企业的探索式（或利用式）创新之间起到了完全中介作用。研究结果揭示了绩优企业选择探索式或利用式创新的内在机制，为正确认知绩效顺差提供了启示。