Network centrality and innovation performance: the role of formal and informal institutions in emerging economies

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 1388-1400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haifeng Wang ◽  
Yapu Zhao ◽  
Beilei Dang ◽  
Pengfei Han ◽  
Xin Shi

Purpose The impact of network centrality on innovation performance is inconclusive. The purpose of this paper is to examine how formal and informal institutions affect the influence of network centrality on firms’ innovation performance in emerging economies by integrating social network theory and institutional theory. Design/methodology/approach Multisource and lagged data from 234 technology-based entrepreneurial firms listed on the Chinese Growth Enterprise Market were leveraged to test a proposed research model. Findings Results suggest that formal institutions (marketization) positively moderate the relationship between network centrality and innovation performance, whereas informal institutions (social cohesion) negatively moderate this relationship. Moreover, formal and informal institutions have a strong joint impact on such relationship, that is, the effect of network centrality on innovation performance is most positive when marketization is high and social cohesion is low. Originality/value This empirical research provides new insights into whether and how firms can grasp the innovation benefits of network centrality by exploring institutional contingencies. It further sheds on light the scope of the network centrality–innovation issue by extending its research context to Chinese entrepreneurial firms.

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arezou Harraf ◽  
Hasan Ghura ◽  
Allam Hamdan ◽  
Xiaoqing Li

PurposeThe paper aims to analyse the interplay between formal and informal institutions' and their impact on entrepreneurship rates in emerging economies.Design/methodology/approachThis study expands previous research in examining the moderating effect of control of corruption on the relationship between formal institutions and the development of the entrepreneurial activity. The study utilizes longitudinal analyses of a dataset from 41 emerging economies over 11 years (2006–2016).FindingsFindings provided robust support for the study's hypotheses. The results suggested lower levels of corruption positively moderate the effects of a country's number of procedures and education and training on the rates of entrepreneurial activity, while negatively moderating the effects of firm-level technology absorption on the rates of entrepreneurial activity.Research limitations/implicationsThe study has considered only one particular aspect of high-growth entrepreneurship, which is newly registered firms with limited liability. Although newly registered firms are recognized as one of the critical drivers of entrepreneurial activity. Future research should seek to examine other aspects of growth-oriented entrepreneurship such as activities involving a high level of innovation, corporate entrepreneurship or technology developments.Practical implicationsThis study advanced the existing theories in the field of entrepreneurship and institutional economics as it merged the two theories as a driving framework in the design of the study in the context of emerging economies.Social implicationsThe study tested a theoretical model by expanding the number of emerging economies in the study and found comparable findings that explain factors that may influence the likelihood of individuals entering entrepreneurship.Originality/valueThis article adds to the current literature as it highlights the importance of the interplay of formal and informal institutions in determining their impact on entrepreneurship rates in emerging economies. This is of particular importance to policy-makers, and the business world as the empirical results of this study show the benefits of control of corruption in boosting entrepreneurial rates in these economies, which strive for economic diversification in their developmental endeavours.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-169
Author(s):  
Nan Xu ◽  
Hanyi Tian ◽  
Jing Cai

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of non-founder CEO succession on firms’ research and development (R&D) decision, and further explore its mechanism and economic consequences. Design/methodology/approach Using founders’ personal-level information of entrepreneurial firms in the Chinese growth enterprise market from 2009 to 2015, the authors empirically investigate whether firms can be motivated to launch more R&D activities as the result of switching to non-founder CEOs. The author’s further test the impact of non-founder CEOs on R&D output to distinguish their motivation. Moreover, the authors use stepwise regression to explore the mechanism and possible channels. Findings The authors find that R&D investment significantly increases in firms with non-founder CEOs and the R&D output that comes in the form of patent exhibits an upward trending in numbers, too, ruling out non-founder CEOs’ incentive to chase private benefits. Specifically, the authors find that non-founder CEOs can promote R&D investment through their more professional human capital and better internal control. The authors also show mitigating effects under different circumstances on the relationship between non-founder CEOs and R&D investment. Practical implications This study helps the authors to understand the impact of non-founder CEO succession on R&D investment in emerging markets. It also indicates that human capital of non-founder CEOs is critical in driving firms’ innovation, proposing policy suggestions to improve formal intermediary labor market of professional CEOs. Originality/value This study provides elaborate theoretical analysis and empirical tests on the mechanism and economic consequences of (non-)founders’ impact on R&D activities.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amira Khattak ◽  
Mosab I. Tabash ◽  
Zahid Yousaf ◽  
Magdalena Radulescu ◽  
Abdelmohsen A. Nassani ◽  
...  

Purpose This study aims to investigate the impact of digital platforms, frugal innovation and innovation culture (IC) on innovation performance (IP). The mediation role of IC between digital platforms and IP, as well as moderating role of frugal innovation between IC and IP is also tested. Design/methodology/approach Data is collected from 387 top management officials from the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) working in emerging economies, in the current study Pakistan. Quantitative research design was applied for the collection of data and analysis. Various statistical techniques, i.e. correlation and regression, were used. Findings The findings revealed that digital platforms positively affect IC and IP. The results proved that IC mediates the association between digital platforms and IP link. Originality/value The SMEs of emerging economies are working in a dynamic scenario, and their performance in term of innovation is critically needed. Only those businesses that update their products and services according to customers’ demand can achieve success. Hence, SMEs of emerging economies need IP to flourish their businesses. This study highlights an overlooked link of digital platforms with IP and also shows the mediating role of IC.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 1288-1307
Author(s):  
Yanhui Jiang ◽  
Danping Wang ◽  
Qianfang Zeng

Founders are crucial for the start-ups, which in turn makes it very important to study how founders’ behaviour affects the development of the start-ups. Based on the data of the companies listed on Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) and Small & Medium Enterprise (SME) board from 2014 to 2017 in China, this paper explores the impact of founders’ dual roles of R&D and management on enterprises’ innovation performance from the perspective of founders’ R&D network characteristics. The empirical research reveals that the more an enterprise’s founders participate in the R&D activities and the more central they are in the R&D network, the better the enterprise’s technological innovation performance. It is because the high network centrality enables founders the stronger ability of innovation and opportunity identification and draws their attention to innovation. This research further discloses that the promotion effect is restrained when enterprises obtain more government subsidies and founders have more power. Italso finds that founders’ R&D role does not transform the innovation output into enterprises’ value effectively though the role increases the innovation output, instead, it even restrains the transformation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-26
Author(s):  
Malgorzata Godlewska

Formal and informal institutions matter in the context of the innovation performance of Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs). The purpose of the research was to investigate whether the interplay between formal and informal institutions has a positive, negative or neutral impact on the innovation performance of CEECs, and if formal or informal institutions alone also have a positive, negative or neutral influence on the innovation performance of CEECs. The research is based on informal institutions of CEECs such as trust, traditions, customs, creativity or cooperation, and formal institutions of CEECs such as law, formal rules, or science, technology and innovation policy (STIP). The research methodology focuses on secondary statistical data from 18,808 surveys from the European Social Survey Round 9 (2018) edition 2.0 for informal institutions and from 1090 innovation policies of European Commission and OECD STIP Compass and 414,073 notices of awarded tenders of the European Union Tenders Electronic Daily for formal institutions. Innovation performance was measured by the Summary Innovation Index (SII) of the European Innovation Scoreboard 2019. The findings show that informal institutions such as trust in others, trust in the legal system, the importance of following traditions and customs or cooperation among citizens of CEECs, as well as interplay between informal institutions such as trust in the legal system and formal institutions such as obedience to rules among citizens of CEECs have a negative impact on the innovation performance of the national economies of CEECs. Meanwhile, the variety of policy theme areas and creativity among citizens of CEECs have a positive impact on the innovation performance of the national economies of CEECs.


2017 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 297-317
Author(s):  
Zafir Ullah Khan ◽  
Anwar Hussain ◽  
Nasir Iqbal

This paper empirically analyses the impact of institutions, both formal and informal, on innovation performance of sampled countries at different stages of development. Data of 72 sampled countries on Research and Development Expenditures, numbers of article published, human capital, trade openness, internet users are collected from United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) and World Bank database. Formal and informal institutions indexes are constructed using data from Country Risk Guide and The World Value Survey (WVS). Fixed effect and System GMM technique are used to estimate the dynamic relationship between innovation performance and institutional indexes. The study finds positive significant effect of institutions on innovation in case of aggregate sample of developed and developing countries. However, the effects of formal institutions are more significant in case of sample of developed countries, while in developing countries informal institutions are found more effective than formal institutions in affecting innovation performance. The results also show that both formal and informal institutions are supplementary to each other in case of developing countries. Therefore, it is suggested that focus should be given to informal institutions. Moreover, collective initiatives be encourage in developing countries to have diverse ideas from different sectors of the countries. In addition, developing countries should initiate collaborative research projects with technologically advanced countries research and education institutions so as to learn from each other’s ideas and experiences. Keywords: Formal Institutions, Informal Institutions, Innovation


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilert Puriwat ◽  
Danupol Hoonsopon

PurposeThis study is to compare the impact of organizational agility and flexibility on performance of each type of product innovation (radical vs incremental innovation). Additionally, the moderating effect of technological turbulence on the relationship between the two types of organization is examined.Design/methodology/approachBased on gaps in the existing literature, the survey data are collected from managers who are in charge of developing new products in three industries: food and beverage, chemical and machinery (N = 431). Confirmatory factory analysis is used to verify measurement items and regression analysis is used to test hypotheses.FindingsThe results show that organizational agility increases performance in radical innovation both in a certain situation and an environment with technological turbulence. In contrast, the impact of organizational flexibility is limited to increasing performance in both radical and incremental innovation performance in a certain situation.Originality/valueOur study extends the knowledge of organizational agility and flexibility in the domain of product innovation. Adaptation of organization to respond the technological turbulence will stimulate creativity of new product development teams to produce new useful ideas and transform these ideas to product innovation. The different types of organizing a new product development team to handle technological turbulence will provide different results in product innovation performance. In addition, the findings provide a recommendation on how the organization of a new product development team can improve performance in each type of product innovation under technological turbulence.


2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 366-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuemei Xie ◽  
Saixing Zeng ◽  
Zhipeng Zang ◽  
Hailiang Zou

Purpose The purpose of this study is to identify the factors determining collaborative innovation effect of manufacturing firms in emerging economies. Design/methodology/approach Based on a survey of 1,206 Chinese manufacturing firms and using structural equation modelling, this study explores the factors determining the effect of collaborative innovation among manufacturing firms (namely, internal capabilities, government policies, collaboration mechanisms and social networks) and examines the relationship between collaborative innovation effect and innovation performance. Findings The study finds that there are significantly positive relationships between firms’ internal capabilities, government policies, collaboration mechanisms and social networks and collaborative innovation effect among firms. Practical implications These findings reveal that policymakers should create an effective institutional culture and market environment to facilitate firms’ collaborative innovation. Originality/value This paper draws on the resource-based view of firms and contributes to understanding of how the development of factors determining firms’ collaborative innovation effect can improve innovation performance. This study extends established frameworks on collaborative innovation in relation to four dimensions, namely, firms’ internal capabilities, government policies, collaboration mechanisms and social networks, uniquely identifying the limits of specific dimensions. Moreover, this study addresses government policies and “Guanxi culture” specific to China that provide new insights into how firms’ collaborative innovation is improved from the perspectives of business–governmental relations and social networks.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 149-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duy Quoc Nguyen

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical and empirical exploration of link between organization intellectual capital and knowledge flows with its incremental and radical innovation performance.Design/methodology/approachThis paper adopts relevant literature of social capital and organizational learning to examine the impact of intellectual capital and knowledge flows on incremental and radical innovation based on surveying 95 firms. To test the research hypotheses, regression analysis is used.FindingsResults of the study show that human capital and top-down knowledge flows significantly and positively influence both incremental and radical innovations. Social capital and bottom-up knowledge flows do not have any significant impact on incremental or/and radical innovation. Organizational capital has a positive impact on incremental innovation as expected.Practical implicationsThe results offer several practical implications for business managers to harvest its knowledge bases resident in the firm’s different forms appropriately to make innovation successful. Particularly, knowledge resident in human capital and organizational capital is useful for making incremental innovation. Especially, new knowledge, new skills and new perspectives resident in human capital are crucial important for making radical innovation. Both incremental and radical innovations are positively influenced by dynamic managerial capabilities.Originality/valueThis study contributes to literature by providing new evidence linking organization intellectual capital and knowledge flows with its innovation performance. Especially, the missing link between top-down knowledge flows and radical innovation is empirically examined. Value of this study is that social capital and bottom-up knowledge flows are not universally beneficial for enhancing innovation and their impacts on innovation performance are context dependent and more sophisticated than it is recognized in the literature.


2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 85-104
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Godlewska ◽  
Tomasz Pilewicz

The central point of this paper is to present the results of comparative case study research concerning the impact of the interplay between formal and informal institutions in the corporate governance systems (CGS) of Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC). Particular focus was put on the values of the corporate governance codes (CGC) of CEECs, as well as on transparent ownership structures, transactions with related parties, the protection of minority shareholders, independent members of supervisory boards, and separation between the CEO position and the chairman of the board of directors. The main subject of interest concerns two research areas: the character of the relationship between formal and informal institutions, as well as whether the interplay between them is relevant to the CGSs of CEECs. Moreover, the author investigates whether the CGCs of CEECs consist of regulations that are compatible with the values set up in preambles using research methods such as individual case study or deductive reasoning. The conclusion presented in the paper was drawn on the basis of a review of the literature and research on national and European corporate governance regulations, as well as the CGC of CEECs. The primary contribution this article makes is to advance the stream of research beyond any single country setting, and to link the literature on the interplay between formal and informal institutions related to CGSs in a broad range of economies in transition (‘catch up’ countries) like CEECs. This paper provides an understanding of how the interplay between formal and informal institutions may influence the CGCs of CEECs.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document