Political Connections as an Impediment to Chinese Firms' Innovation? A Motivation-Opportunity-Ability Perspective

Yongyi Shou, Jinan Shao, Weijiao Wang

Research output: Journal PublicationArticlepeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Aiming to have a deeper understanding of innovation in emerging economies, this article investigates the relationship between political connections and research and development (R&D) intensity of Chinese enterprises. In particular, we examine the moderating effects of firm-level factors (i.e., financial slack and state ownership) and regional-level institutional development from the motivation-opportunity-ability perspective. Using a panel dataset of 1010 Chinese enterprises between 2008 and 2014, we find that political connections have a negative effect on R&D intensity. We further observe that this negative effect is attenuated when firms have less financial slack or are state-owned enterprises. Nevertheless, institutional development does not significantly influence the impact of political connections on R&D intensity. This article extends the innovation management literature by providing insights into the relationship between political connections and R&D intensity as well as its boundary conditions in an emerging economy context.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2419-2430
Number of pages12
JournalIEEE Transactions on Engineering Management
Volume70
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2023
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • China
  • Contracts
  • emerging economies
  • Faces
  • financial slack
  • Government
  • Indexes
  • institutional development
  • Investment
  • political connections
  • Research and development
  • research and development (R&D) intensity
  • state ownership
  • Technological innovation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Strategy and Management
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Political Connections as an Impediment to Chinese Firms' Innovation? A Motivation-Opportunity-Ability Perspective'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this