Despite the consensus on the “double‐edged sword” effect of diversification (of knowledge and collaborators) on individual performance, little is known about the contingencies that affect the relationship between diversification and individual productivity. Drawing on the attention-based view, we theorize the moderating role of attention allocation to advance our understanding of the curvilinear relationship between diversification (of knowledge and collaborators) and individual productivity. Relevant hypotheses are tested using a longitudinal sample of more than 25,000 individual scholars. Our analysis reveals that although a moderate level of knowledge diversification is optimal for research productivity when the level of cognitive attention is low, a high level of knowledge diversification is more beneficial for research productivity when the level of cognitive attention is high. Furthermore, we show that a moderate level of collaborator diversification, coupled with a high level of collaborative attention, is optimal for research productivity. Our study provides important implications for highly skilled and creative individuals.

尽管对于（知识和合作者）多元化对个人绩效的“双刃剑”效应达成了共识，但对影响多元化与个体生产力之间关系的偶然性知之甚少。利用基于注意力的观点，我们将注意力分配的调节作用理论化，以加深对（知识和协作者）多元化与个人生产率之间的曲线关系的理解。使用超过25,000位个人学者的纵向样本对相关假设进行检验。我们的分析表明，尽管在认知关注水平较低的情况下，适度的知识多元化水平对于研究生产率而言是最佳选择，当认知关注度很高时，高水平的知识多样化对研究生产率更有利。此外，我们表明，中等程度的协作者多元化以及高度的协作注意力对于研究生产率而言是最佳的。我们的研究为高技能和创造力的个人提供了重要的启示。