Innovation Performance Of Firms Research Articles

Information and communication technology and innovation performance of firms: Evidence from Chinese listed state-owned enterprises

This study examines whether information and communication technology (ICT) improves innovation performance among Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Generalized difference-in-differences, panel data regression models, and firm-level data from 2011 to 2018 were used to generate statistically significant results, indicating that publicly traded Chinese SOEs increase innovation performance through ICT adoption. Additionally, we analyze the robustness using a three-dimensional panel data model and employ two-stage least squares estimation to remedy the possible bias generated by endogeneity problems. The results of these tests were consistent with the main findings reported above. Additionally, the existing literature suggests that ICT affects innovation by increasing the openness of information sharing and cooperation, improving efficiency, and enhancing human resource management and corporate governance. We provide evidence of the underlying mechanisms between ICT and innovation among Chinese SOEs.

Integrating external stakeholders for improvement in green innovation performance: role of green knowledge integration capability and regulatory pressure

PurposeGreen innovation, particularly in manufacturing firms, is one of the most advocated methods to curb the effects of climate change. This study aims to investigate the impact of the integration of green customers and suppliers on the green innovation performance of food manufacturing firms in Pakistan. The institutional and resource-based view theories determine the moderating role of regulatory pressure and the mediating role of green knowledge integration capability (GKIC).Design/methodology/approachData was collected from 511 middle management-level employees of food manufacturing firms in Pakistan. The questionnaire was tested for reliability and validity. Hierarchical regression is used to test the proposed hypothesis.FindingsA marginal improvement in integration with green customers can increase the green innovation performance (GIP) of a firm by 23.6%. Green supplier integration can improve the GIP by 14.2%, whereas the GKIC mediates the relationship between Green Customers Integration (GCI) and GIP but not for green suppliers integration (GSI). The moderating effect of regulatory pressure was significant for the relationship between GCI and GIP but insignificant for GSI.Originality/valueFood manufacturing accounts for approximately 16% of global green house gases (GHG) emissions. Sustainable development goals (SDGs) cannot be achieved without a significant decrease in GHG emissions by food manufacturing companies. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate firms' green innovation performance in this sector. The findings of this study can help policymakers develop policies for achieving SDGs.

More Government Subsidies, More Innovation of New Energy Firms? Evidence from China

This paper evaluates the causal relationship between government subsidy and the innovation performance of new energy firms through count models using 2007–2021 data from China’s listed new energy companies. By looking at the subsidy for listed new energy firms and the number of granted patents, we find government subsidy policies significantly boost firms’ innovation performance. We estimate that a tenfold increase in government subsidy would lead to an increase of 7.11 in the total number of granted patents for new energy firms. Furthermore, a heterogeneity analysis shows such an effect varies depending on the nature of property rights, subsidy scale, and region for new energy firms. To be specific, state-owned firms are more dependent on government subsidy, the effect on innovation is generally higher in the high-subsidy group than in the low-subsidy group while being higher in the low-subsidy group when it comes to low-tech design patents, and firms in the eastern region are most sensitive to government subsidy. This paper also assesses the role of R&D investment in how government subsidy policies boost firms’ innovation performance; that is, by increasing their R&D funding investment rather than R&D manpower investment. These findings illustrate that in developing countries, government subsidy is effective in boosting new energy firms’ innovation performance.

Linking entrepreneurial leadership and innovation performance in hospitality firms: the roles of innovation strategy and knowledge acquisition

PurposeTo achieve business success in a competitive market, hospitality firms are urged to search for different ways to enhance the firms' innovation capabilities. Drawing on dynamic capability theory, this study examined the role of entrepreneurial leadership in promoting product and process innovation through the mediating effect of innovation strategy and the moderating effect of knowledge acquisition.Design/methodology/approachData were collected through a time-lagged (two waves, two months apart) survey from 137 managers and 322 employees working in 103 Vietnamese hotels. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the proposed hypotheses in our conceptual model.FindingsThe findings revealed that entrepreneurial leadership is positively associated with both product and process innovation. In addition, these relationships are mediated by innovation strategy. While the relationship between innovation strategy and product innovation is moderated by knowledge acquisition, evidence was not obtained for the moderation effect of knowledge acquisition on the link between innovation strategy and process innovation.Originality/valueThe findings advance innovation and leadership literature by identifying the roles of entrepreneurial leaders in managing an organization as a dynamic system and developing appropriate innovation strategy to adapt to rapidly changing environments. In addition, this study offers important implications for hospitality firms that are investing in innovation activities and are seeking ways to promote the firms' innovation of products and processes.

Cognitive proximity for innovation: Why matters? an applied analysis.

The purpose of this research is to deepen the study of the influence of cognitive proximity has on the innovative performance of firms, as well as the mediating effect of potential and realized absorptive capacity in this relationship. For this purpose, an empirical analysis has been carried out. The primary data have been analyzed by means of PLS-SEM technique. The results show that the cognitive proximity of firms has both a direct and an indirect impact on their innovative performance, through their potential and realized absorptive capacity. We conclude that cognitive proximity matters for the innovation performance of firms, as it facilitates the understanding and establishment of positive reciprocity agreements between the companies, especially in terms of knowledge. Nevertheless, firms must develop a great capability to absorb new knowledge to exploit the advantages derived from its cognitive proximity to its stakeholders and leverage all the knowledge within their reach.

TMT entrepreneurial passion diversity and firm innovation performance: the mediating role of knowledge creation

PurposeThis study extends the literature on top management team (TMT) diversity and innovation by introducing entrepreneurial passion diversity as an important TMT affective component in determining firm innovation performance. This paper draws on the knowledge-based view and proposes that TMT passion diversity, in terms of intensity separation and focus variety, may hinder the process of knowledge creation, and, in turn, reduce firm innovation performance.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conduct a questionnaire survey using a simple random sampling technique and collect data from 195 small- and medium-sized enterprises in China. Ordinary least squares regression and a structural equation model are applied to test the hypotheses.FindingsThis study finds that TMT passion intensity separation has a negative effect on firm innovation performance via knowledge exchange and knowledge combination. TMT passion focus variety has a negative effect on firm innovation performance via knowledge combination.Originality/valueThis study highlights the affective diversity of entrepreneurial passion in TMTs and clarifies the detrimental role of TMT entrepreneurial passion diversity in innovation and knowledge creation. It contributes new insights to the literature on TMT diversity, knowledge management and entrepreneurial passion.

MARKET-ORIENTED REFORMS AND FIRMS’ INNOVATION: EVIDENCE FROM CHINA

Based on a micro dataset of Chinese manufacturing firms, we examined the effect of market-oriented reforms on innovation of Chinese manufacturing firms and its mechanisms. Results show the following. (1) The market-oriented reforms significantly improved the innovation performance of Chinese manufacturing firms. Among the various components of the market-oriented process, the development of the product markets had the greatest effect on promoting firms’ innovation. (2) Alleviating the financial constraint of firms and triggering the “competition effect” were important ways for market-oriented reforms to improve innovation performance. (3) The effect of market-oriented reforms on the innovation of various types of firms (different industry types, scale types, ownership types, regional types, exporters and non-exporters) was not the same, and significant heterogeneity was observed. This study enriches the research literature on market-oriented reforms and firms’ innovation and provides new micro evidence for understanding the effect of market-oriented reforms on firms’ innovation performance.

The Nexus Between IT Capabilities and Firm Innovation Performance: The Mediating Effect of Supply Chain Agility

This study investigates the impact of IT capabilities on firm innovation performance. Further, it examines the mediating role of supply chain agility (SCA) as well as the moderating effect of innovation orientation (IO). The proposed conceptual model draws on resource-based view (RBV) theory. Dataset of 335 responses was analysed with process MACRO using SPSS 24.0 and AMOS. The findings show that IT capabilities positively affect firm innovation performance and SCA mediates the relationship of IT capabilities and firm innovative performance. Finally, results also confirm the moderating effect of IO between the IT capabilities and SCA.

Disentangling the Effects of Knowledge Spillovers and Family Firm Nature on Innovative Performance: a Multilevel Approach

AbstractThe idiosyncrasies of family firms (FFs) may enable or hamper their ability to exploit the region’s knowledge spillovers. To the date, this issue has not been addressed by the literature. The purpose of this paper is twofold: firstly, to explore whether FF nature influences on firm innovative performance by acknowledging the fact that firm innovation happens in a certain location where firms are exposed to knowledge spillovers; and secondly, to analyse whether FF management plays a moderating role in the effects of regional knowledge spillovers on innovative outcomes. We used multilevel modelling and panel data methodology in a sample of 1191 Spanish manufacturing firms over the period 2009–2016. By applying multilevel analysis and panel data methods, the results indicate that being part of a family group increases innovative performance, and this effect seems to be even more important in regions with low technological or human capital resources.

The moderating role of market uncertainty in the effectiveness of government policies and R&D activities promoting innovation in manufacturing firms

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the impact of government support policies and research and development (R&D) activities on product innovation under market uncertainty.Design/methodology/approachThis study applies logistic regression analysis to a sample of 4,000 South Korean manufacturing firms in order to investigate the impact of government policies and R&D activities of the firm on firm innovation performance, with particular interest in the moderating role of the firm's perceived market uncertainty (PMU).FindingsPolicies supporting industry/university/institute/local collaboration are found to have greater benefit under high PMU. Surprisingly, support for a consortium among different-sized firms has a negative effect on product innovation, although this negative effect disappears under high PMU. Both support for the protection of intellectual property (IP) and support for the resolution of manpower shortages have strong positive effects on the propensity to innovate products, but in both cases the moderating effects of uncertainty are negative. Finally, all types of R&D activities have positive effects on the propensity to innovate, more so for new product innovation than for improved product innovation.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to examine analytically the moderating effect of PMU in the effectiveness of government policies promoting innovation in the manufacturing sector. The study is potentially useful both for policymakers in deciding which policies to implement under prevailing market conditions; and for entrepreneurs choosing between different forms of government support, particularly given the abnormal levels of market uncertainty prevailing in the Covid-19 era.

Cross-Border knowledge pipelines and innovation performance of chinese firms: evidence from Zhangjiang in Shanghai

Abstract It is increasingly emphasized that firms’ innovation depends on external knowledge interaction in the field of economic geography. Global knowledge linkages and interaction plays crucial role in gaining competitive advantage for firms in developing countries because of their immature innovation systems, inspiring a wide academic interest around cross-border knowledge pipelines. However, the existing literature has been silent about the type in which firms employ cross-border knowledge pipelines and neglects the potential importance of firm’s ownership in this process. Using 2015 survey micro-data of 4685 Chinese firms in Zhangjiang National Innovation Demonstration Zone, we investigate how different types of cross-border knowledge pipelines indicated by foreign R&D investment and returnees influence firm’s innovation. The research highlights the positive effects of foreign R&D investment and returnees on firms’ patent innovation, while returnees exerts negative influence on firms’ product innovation. Moreover, there exists a complementary relation between foreign R&D investment and returnees in facilitating firm’s patent innovation. State ownership negatively affects the relationship between foreign R&D investment and firms’ patent innovation.

DRIVEN BY EMOTIONS: THE MODERATING EFFECT OF SOCIOEMOTIONAL WEALTH DIMENSIONS ON THE LINK BETWEEN ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION AND INNOVATION PERFORMANCE IN FAMILY FIRMS

This study examines the influence of socioemotional wealth (SEW) dimensions on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and innovation performance in family firms. Based on an analysis of a dataset comprising 145 family firms, our findings provide evidence that SEW positively moderates the association between EO and innovation performance. Notably, the dimension ([Formula: see text]) emotional attachment of family members within SEW solely drives this interaction effect. Surprisingly, none of the other dimensions exhibit a significant moderating effect on the entrepreneurial orientation–innovation performance relationship. Furthermore, the overall moderation is substantially more pronounced for multidimensional SEW than for unidimensional SEW. Our findings challenge the results of previous studies on the entrepreneurial orientation–performance relationship in family firms, which considered SEW as unidimensional. Finally, we discuss implications for corporate entrepreneurship as well as SEW literature and provide directions for future research.

Training investment, human capital upgrading and firm innovation: the role of government training subsidies

PurposeHuman capital is acquired not only through formal education (e.g. general skills) but also through training at the workplace. Prior studies have ignored the role of government subsidies explicitly for on-the-job training, which may influence firm training decisions and firm innovation performance. Hence, the authors establish a comprehensive theoretical framework to consider these issues and fill these gaps.Design/methodology/approachConsidering the Chinese manufacturing firms listed in the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchange from 2010 to 2017, the authors investigate the influence of training investment on innovation performance by illustrating the role of human capital updating in enhancing firm innovation. The authors also explore serval mechanisms on how training investment influences innovation performance.FindingsThe authors propose that training investment promotes firm innovation performance, whereas government training subsidies negatively moderate this relationship. The authors also reveal how technicists' involvement and corporate culture mediate the relationship between training investment and innovation performance.Practical implicationsThis study provides policy implications for stimulating firm innovation by improving learning and absorption ability, strengthening cultural identity and implementing system norms. Effective policies should be adopted to provide subsidies for on-the-job training of enterprises, particularly for firms with technical executives and firms in diversified life-cycle.Originality/valueThis work contributes to the literature on the role of on-the-job training in promoting firm innovation and reveals the crowding-out effect of subsidies. This study also shows the heterogeneous effects of training investment on firm innovation.

The Impact of Digital Technology Innovation Network Embedding on Firms’ Innovation Performance: The Role of Knowledge Acquisition and Digital Transformation

In the digital economy context, enterprises’ competitive environment is changing rapidly. Historically, enterprises rely on a solitary fight to occupy the market. Now, enterprises should actively embed into digital technology innovation networks to maximize access to external digital technology knowledge resources through organizational cooperation and achieve the absorption of digital resources and technologies. However, the relationship between digital technology innovation network embedding and innovation performance still needs to be clarified. Therefore, this study adopts the “structure–behavior–performance” research paradigm to extend innovation network research to the digital technology innovation network context, aiming to explore the impact of digital technology innovation network embedding on enterprise innovation performance and to analyze the mediating effect of knowledge acquisition and the moderating effect of digital transformation. This study conducts an empirical study based on Chinese A-share listed firms that undertook digital technology innovation from 2010–2021. The findings show that digital technology innovation networks’ relational and structural embedding positively affects firm innovation performance. Knowledge acquisition mediates digital technology innovation network embedding and innovation performance. Digital transformation has a moderating role between digital technology innovation network embedding and innovation performance, and different levels of digital transformation will have different effects on firms’ innovation performance. Overall, the relational and structural embedding of digital technology innovation networks can encourage enterprises to acquire more social capital and tacit knowledge and reduce R&D costs, thus improving their innovation performance. Firms should focus on building external cooperation networks, actively establishing an excellent corporate image, strengthening communication and cooperation with network members, establishing mutually beneficial cooperation beliefs, and promoting digital transformation. The present results will help companies understand the impact of digital technology innovation networks and provide a reference for companies to utilize in digital transformation to improve their innovation performance.

The Impact of Innovation Adoption of Emerging Digital Technologies within a collaborative ecosystem on Firm Innovation Performance- Focus on Emerging Economies (Middle East, Africa, and Asia)

ABSTRACT: In today's fast-paced and ever-changing world, innovative technologies' rapid emergence and integration profoundly impact organisational strategies, the industry landscape, and overall economic and societal development. This article explores the adoption of specific emerging digital technologies (Artificial Intelligence (AI), Industry 4.0( I4.0 ), and the Internet of Things (IoT). It proposes a comprehensive framework to enhance firm innovation performance in organisations. A deep understanding of the future commercial utilisation of these technologies is crucial for informed decision-making. Acknowledging the interconnected nature of emerging technologies, this research emphasises the importance of collaboration among various stakeholders such as businesses, academic institutions, research organisations, regulatory bodies, and government agencies. This collaborative effort forms a unique and interdependent ecosystem essential for effectively applying, adapting, and improving emerging digital technologies. This study highlights perspective and limitations, particularly in emerging economies, by investigating the determinants that impact their implementation, mainly focusing on emerging economies. A robust framework is developed to address the research objectives by combining existing technology models, including the Diffusion of Innovation Technology-Organisation-Environment and Technology Acceptance Model. A quantitative research survey targeted managers and above in large enterprises and multinationals within the Middle East, Africa, and Asia manufacturing industries. The collected responses (n=153) were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling and Chi-Square methods. The findings of this study emphasise the advantages of the collaborative adoption of emerging digital technologies in improving firm performance. By bridging the gaps in integrating multiple emerging technologies within the innovation ecosystem, organisations can enhance their innovation capabilities and leverage them for sustainable competitive advantage. This comprehensive framework provides valuable insights and practical guidance for organisations seeking to navigate the complex landscape of emerging digital technologies and maximise their innovation potential.

Does Technology Orientation Determine Innovation Performance through Digital Innovation? A Glimpse of the Electronic Industry in the Digital Economy

This study aims to explore the impact of technology orientation on innovation performance in the electronic industry operating in the digital economy. This study also investigates the mediating role of digital innovation (a special type of innovation that is based on digital technologies) in the relationship between technology orientation and innovation performance. Primary data, based on perception, was collected from operational managers of electronic firms. Correlation and regression analyses were used to test the direct relationship among digital innovation, innovation performance, and technology orientation. The stepwise regression model was used to check the indirect relationship (mediation analysis). Findings revealed that technology orientation is a major predictor of innovation performance in the electronic industry. Results show that digital innovation acts as a bridge between technology orientation and innovation performance. This study investigates the nexus of technology orientation, digital innovation, and innovation performance in electronic firms. This study contextualizes electronic firms for the achievement of innovation performance through digitalization and technology orientation, which is a dire need of the current decade.

Interplay of Intellectual Capital and Digital Transformation to Enhance Innovation Performance

The current era of knowledge economy equipped with technological advancements has intensified the importance of innovation. Firms are seeking ways to upgrade their innovation related performance in order to achieve the competitive advantage as well accomplishing the growth. The innovation performance is heavily focused towards improving existing products or creating new products. Moreover, firms tend to amass their capabilities to enable process innovation as well, in order to gain efficiency, improve service quality, and cost reduction. This study investigates the role of intellectual capital to improve the innovation performance of firms. Moreover, the mediating role of digital transformation is undertaken in this relationship. As a result of performing empirical investigation on Malaysian high-tech firms where data collected was undergone to PLS-SEM. The findings reveal that the dimensions of intellectual capital – including human, structural and relational – improve the innovation performance of firms. Furthermore, results exhibit the full mediation of digital transformation for improving innovation performance of firms. This study contributes novel insights in literature by uncovering the role of intellectual capital and digital transformation towards innovation performance of high-tech firms. The study recommends that firms and policy makers should pay attention to developing the intellectual capital dimensions of firms in order to realize the benefit of digital transformation towards enhancing innovation performance of firms. Future researchers are suggested to perform investigations on medium-tech and low-tech firms as well as across the manufacturing sectors.

Identifying the Innovative Tension: A Meta-Analysis on Innovative Firm Behavior, Organizational Ambidexterity and Innovative Performance

Purpose –In terms of business activities determining which financial and human resources will use existing knowledge (exploitation) and which will make efforts to discover new knowledge (exploration) creates an innovative tension. Since the choice of innovative action leads to different expectations and different outputs, the cause and consequences of tension will also differ for each firm. Ultimately, the purpose of the study is to reveal the relation amongst innovative firm behavior, organizational ambidexterity,and innovative firm performance in the axis of innovative tension.Design/methodology/approach –In this study, meta-analysis was used to determine the effect size of innovative firm behavior on organizational ambidexterity and the effect size of organizational ambidexterity on innovative performance. To test the hypotheses determined in the research, the studies published since 2000 were reviewed and the appropriate ones were selected within the framework of certain criteria. The determined database is divided into two separate data sets (Dataset 1 consists of 19 studies, 30 effect values, 11246 samples -dataset 2 consists of 22 studies, 49 effect values, 98630 samples). The first data set was used to investigate the relation between innovative firm behavior and organizational ambidexterity and the second data set was used to test the relation amongst organizational ambidexterity and innovative firm performance.Findings –According to the effect size level obtained from the meta-analysis, it was found that innovative firm behavior has a positive and significant effect on organizational ambidexterity and organizational ambidexterity has a positive and significant effect on innovative performance.Discussion –Considering the requirements of the technology era we live in, it is necessary to take into account that innovative attitude and behavior, organizational ambidexterity, and innovative performance network have the power to determine not only the production of new products and services but also the rules of the competition game on the global basis. While the wrong choice to be made at this point will directly affect the life span of the firm, the right one will contribute to the effectiveness of a new actor at the level of macro competition.

The impact of environmental information disclosure on green innovation in extractive enterprises: Promote or crowd out?

Environmental information disclosure (EID) is an essential manifestation of a firm's Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategy. However, there is no consensus on whether EID can improve extractive enterprise green innovation. Drawing on data from Chinese-listed extractive industries companies for the period 2002–2017, this paper disentangles the complex impact of EID on green innovation by using the difference-in-difference method. The results show that the EID policy improves the overall green innovation performance of the extractive firms, but this improvement is mainly driven by the utility model patents rather than green invention patents with higher innovation levels. The dynamic effects show that the green innovation effect of EID has an upward trend after a three-year lag. Moreover, the green innovation effect in regions with high information disclosure intensity and state-owned enterprises is more prominent. Moreover, the mechanism tests reveal that although the resource crowding-out effect will hinder green innovation activities, EID can stimulate firms to conduct green innovation activities by alleviating financing constraints, increasing internal incentives, and imposing external pressure. Our findings provide the necessary empirical support for the government to promote the voluntary instruments.

Does ESG Impact Firms’ Sustainability Performance? The Mediating Effect of Innovation Performance

In this age of global warming, academics and policymakers are increasingly concerned about firm environmental sustainability success. Therefore, this study aims to investigate whether Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance impacts sustainability performance through the mediating effect of firm innovation. To this end, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was deployed to analyze data collected from the employees of manufacturing industries in Bangladesh. The results revealed that ESG performance significantly enhances the innovation and sustainability performance of manufacturing industries, indicating that the higher the ESG performance of a firm, the greater its innovation and sustainability performance. Furthermore, the results confirmed that firm innovation performance fully mediates the relationship between ESG initiatives and sustainability performance. The findings of this study provide policymakers and industry authorities with valuable insight into the role of ESG and innovation performance in improving sustainability performance. Specifically, the study sheds knowledge on how firm ESG initiatives and innovation performance impact sustainability performance in the manufacturing sector of an emerging economy such as Bangladesh.