2.2. The Analysis of the Relationship between SCRQ and Technological Innovations
The concept of relationship quality was first applied to the study of interpersonal relationships and was gradually introduced into supply chain management. Crosby et al. (1990) proposed a theoretical framework of SCRQ, which refers to the degree of dependence of supply chain organization members on future behavioral choices based on past transactional cooperation [
16]. Fynes et al. (2005) suggested that SCRQ is a high-order construct of inter-organizational relationship management that includes dimensions such as commitment, trust, communication, cooperation, and satisfaction [
17]. Raskovic et al. (2013) argued that inter-organizational trust and commitment could influence organizational member satisfaction [
18]. Therefore, satisfaction should be viewed as an output, rather than a dimension, of SCRQ. Moreover, both Medlin et al. (2005) and Lai et al. (2009) identified trust and commitment as two core constructs of SCRQ [
19,
20]. Thus, this paper concludes that SCRQ reflects the degree of mutual trust and mutual commitment among supply chain members. Where trust refers to the confidence and belief of both supply chain parties in each other’s reliability and honesty, commitment indicates that the supply chain members desire to maintain the relationship and ensure that it endures.
Innovations are expensive. Enterprises are acutely aware in their technological innovation activities that the resources available within the organization alone cannot cope with the differentiated and individualized demands of competitive markets. Therefore, companies need to engage in cross-border network resource orchestration behaviors to achieve sustainable growth [
10,
21]. According to the definition of SCRQ, this paper proposes that SCRQ based on trust and commitment helps enterprises achieve technological innovations. To be specific, good relationship quality among supply chain members implies a high degree of trust and commitment to each other, forming a close relationship of “all gain or all lose”. As a result, a unified dialogue platform can be built among supply chain members to reduce the occurrence of suspicion, mutual blame, and negative burnout through timely and effective communication. This approach can also guarantee the flow of innovative ideas and technical knowledge transfer and stimulate companies to sprout new technological thoughts and new product intentions [
22]. Moreover, good relationship quality among members of supply chain organizations enhances the closeness of cooperation and eliminates uncertain and speculative collaboration behaviors. Good relationship quality also provides an external environment for cooperative use and reconfiguration of innovation knowledge, reducing the cost of technological innovations. In addition, a high level of relationship quality helps facilitate the joint solution of complex technical problems among supply chain nodes. It promotes the overall upgrading and renewal of enterprise technology [
23]. In summary, relying on the excellent quality of relationships among members of supply chain organizations, enterprises can mine, acquire, utilize and reconstruct valuable technological innovation knowledge and ideas from the supply chain relationship network, and realize the practical arrangement of knowledge resources. All these guarantee the smooth implementation of the final technological innovations. Based on this, the following hypothesis is proposed in this paper:
Hypothesis 1 (H1). The SCRQ has a positive impact on enterprise technological innovations.
2.3. The Analysis of the Mediating Role of Knowledge Management
Although the SCRQ could promote technological innovations, good relationship quality is only an intangible asset of the enterprise, providing a supportive context for the firm to construct and utilize knowledge resources. However, this context does not directly contribute to the enterprise’s output; its effect on innovation needs to be realized through certain behaviors or activities [
22,
24]. This paper argues that testing direct relationships is insufficient to show how SCRQ contributes to firm technological innovations. Instead, it is essential to clarify what actions firms should take to translate SCRQ into technological innovations. Knowledge is a crucial foundation for enterprise technological innovations. According to the research, supply chains are not only “material supply chains” but also “knowledge supply chains” and “knowledge supply and demand networks” among organization members, which are dynamic and complex systems of inter-enterprise knowledge management [
25]. To innovate technologies, enterprises need to continuously acquire, update, integrate, and reconstruct knowledge resources from supply chains to manage them effectively [
26]. Thus, the knowledge management process may be a mediating path through which SCRQ affects technological innovations. Knowledge sharing and knowledge integration, as two critical components of knowledge management [
27], focus on the dissemination, acquisition, reconstruction and utilization of knowledge resources, which can help companies strengthen the orchestration of supply chain knowledge resources. Moreover, according to resource orchestration theory, resource acquisition is not the same as resource utilization, and resource utilization is as essential as resource acquisition [
7]. Knowledge sharing and knowledge integration play significant roles in supply chains and cannot replace each other. In summary, this paper explores the mediating roles of knowledge sharing and knowledge integration between SCRQ and technological innovations, respectively.
Knowledge sharing is a process in which independent individuals exchange knowledge and jointly create new knowledge [
28]. From the perspective of supply chains, knowledge sharing involves communication and cooperation between members with different technical expertise in the supply chain so as to all acquire knowledge. Through knowledge sharing, supply chain members can receive new knowledge, digest and utilize it, and eventually update and reconstruct new abilities to add value to the original knowledge. Therefore, knowledge sharing enables the orchestration of knowledge resources and dynamically amplifies static knowledge. The supply chain is described as a learning system among enterprises [
9]. A good SCRQ can mobilize the members’ enthusiasm for knowledge sharing, knowledge processing, and knowledge creation. It creates conditions for enterprises to realize knowledge sharing and, thus, orchestrate knowledge resources, promoting technological innovations. Based on the above analysis, this paper argues that knowledge sharing is a vital component of the technological innovation process, mediating SCRQ and technological innovations.
First, SCRQ helps to achieve knowledge sharing among companies. Knowledge sharing at the supply chain level implies the free flow of knowledge among supply chain members. However, it is also accompanied by the emergence of risks, such as monopoly knowledge leakage, knowledge plagiarism, and speculation. Hence, a high level of relationship quality, with mutual trust and relevant commitment, becomes a sufficient condition for knowledge sharing among supply chain members [
29]. Good faith among supply chain members can eliminate suspicion, doubt, and disconnection, avoid the risk of speculative behaviors and knowledge leakage, and help members share and exchange valuable technologies and knowledge without hiding. Moreover, a high relationship commitment reflects a strong desire to maintain long-term relationships among supply chain members. It builds a belief that both parties share common goals and that knowledge sharing is necessary to achieve long-term benefits. In conclusion, SCRQ has a positive impact on knowledge sharing.
Second, knowledge sharing significantly promotes enterprise technological innovations. The successful operation of technological innovation activities must be based on corresponding knowledge stock. Efficient acquisition, utilization, updating, and reconstruction of knowledge accompany the whole process of technological innovations of enterprises [
10]. According to the definition of knowledge sharing, knowledge sharing is an essential act of creating and orchestrating knowledge resources, which can effectively promote the implementation of technological innovations in enterprises. Specifically, enterprises can transfer knowledge within the organization, increasing the organizational knowledge stock and encouraging corporate members to update and create new knowledge. All these activities break through the constraints of knowledge resources and, thus, improve the speed and quality of technological innovations. Moreover, knowledge sharing can facilitate learning among supply chain members [
30], which helps in the reconstruction and application of new knowledge, laying the knowledge and capability foundation for technological innovations. In conclusion, knowledge sharing accelerates enterprises’ acquisition of knowledge resources, updates, and rebuilds knowledge resources and significantly influences technological innovations.
Third, knowledge sharing is a channel through which SCRQ affects technological innovations. According to the theory of resource orchestration, the management and utilization of resources are crucial [
7]. Companies need to effectively manage and orchestrate supply chain knowledge in terms of the complex relationship between supply chain management and knowledge management. If an enterprise does not take appropriate actions, it is not easy to transfer the advantages of SCRQ to technological innovations [
24]. Enterprises can realize the reprocessing, recreation, and rearrangement of knowledge, successfully acquire fundamental knowledge, technology, and other core resources, and ultimately enhance technological innovations by knowledge sharing. Therefore, based on the resource orchestration analysis framework, knowledge sharing plays a mediating role in the relationship between SCRQ and technological innovations. Based on this, the following hypothesis is proposed in this paper:
Hypothesis 2 (H2). Knowledge sharing plays a mediating role between the SCRQ and enterprise technological innovations.
- b.
The mediating role of knowledge integration
Knowledge integration refers to the organic integration and fusion of acquired new knowledge and pre-existing technologies, ideas, and knowledge by enterprises [
31], thus orchestrating a new core knowledge system. Since the supply chain involves different industries and enterprises, the scope of supply chain-related knowledge is broader. Enterprises need to effectively sort out and integrate knowledge. Therefore, knowledge integration is always crucial in supply chain management and is the basis of enterprise technological innovations [
32]. Although it has been pointed out in previous content that SCRQ can explain the differences in technological innovation of enterprises to a certain extent, according to the resource orchestration theory, the demand for knowledge resources of technological innovations is also part of the process of dynamic change. To maintain the competitiveness of product markets and meet changing knowledge demands, enterprises need to continuously integrate new knowledge in the supply chain. Therefore, this paper argues that knowledge integration is an essential part of the technological innovation process of enterprises and plays a mediating role between SCRQ and technological innovation relationships.
First, SCRQ has a positive impact on knowledge integration. According to the definition of knowledge integration, knowledge integration is a dynamic cycle of acquiring, deconstructing, integrating, and reconstructing local knowledge of different forms and contents shared by supply chain members [
33]. It can be seen that crossing organizational boundaries and finding knowledge sources in the supply chain is a prerequisite for knowledge integration. Good SCRQ helps companies acquire external essential knowledge and technology, thus, effectively facilitating the integration and reconstruction of supply chain knowledge with local knowledge [
34]. Moreover, in the context of mutual trust and commitment, the willingness of supply chain members to share the information “behind” the knowledge is enhanced, which is conducive to exploring and expanding the depth of the knowledge reserve of enterprises and laying a solid foundation for the process of knowledge system reconstruction. In conclusion, SCRQ can promote the knowledge integration of enterprises.
Second, knowledge integration will effectively promote enterprise technological innovations. At the supply chain level, the technological innovations of an enterprise involve a single company and relate to the innovation of various links and industries in the supply chain [
5]. Furthermore, supply chain members possess the technical knowledge required for upper-level design related to corporate technological innovations. Therefore, enterprises need to integrate the relevant knowledge in supply chains in a timely and effective manner to lay the foundation for technological innovations. Knowledge integration is a behavioral process by which enterprises actively acquire, integrate and reconfigure internal and external knowledge of the organization. This process brings a broader range of knowledge resources to the enterprise. It helps to organize advanced information and technology into the organizational knowledge system, thereby reducing the time and risk of technological development. In addition, according to the resource orchestration theory, the effective integration and orchestration of knowledge resources can promptly meet the knowledge resource demands of enterprise innovation activities and help businesses identify and discover potentially valuable opportunities, which plays an essential role in promoting corporate technological innovations. All in all, knowledge integration helps to enhance the knowledge resources and capability base of enterprise technological innovation.
Finally, SCRQ exerts a positive influence on firm technological innovations through knowledge integration. The role of SCRQ on corporate technological innovations is mainly reflected in knowledge acquisition. In fact, scattered and disordered knowledge hardly works. Only knowledge integrated into a comprehensive knowledge system can become the basis of the core competitiveness of enterprises [
35]. Through knowledge integration, enterprises can effectively orchestrate external and local knowledge across organizational boundaries to build an organic and dynamic knowledge system, which can create value that individual enterprises cannot obtain on their own. Based on knowledge, technological accumulation and integration are facilitated, and corporate technological innovations become more rule-based. This paper assumes, in line with the above analysis, that knowledge integration plays a critical mediating role in SCRQ, driving enterprise technological innovations. In this regard, the following hypothesis is proposed in this paper:
Hypothesis 3 (H3). Knowledge integration has a mediating role between the SCRQ and corporate technological innovations.