The research divides open knowledge search into search breadth and search depth, to explore the influence mechanism of open knowledge search on employee innovation behavior. The study analyzes the questionnaires of 287 employees in knowledge-intensive enterprises, it is found that the knowledge search depth has a positive impact on absorption capacity, but there is a inverted U-shaped relationship between knowledge search breadth and absorption capacity. The absorption capacity has a positive impact on employee innovation behavior, and absorptive capacity mediates the relationship between knowledge search breadth,knowledge search depth and employee innovation behavior. Furthermore, attention allocation strategies strengthen the relationship between knowledge search depth and absorptive capacity.