Firm Innovation Research Articles

Haste Makes Waste: A Moderated Mediation Model of the Mechanisms Linking Artificial Intelligence Advancement to Film Firm Performance

Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative force in the modern film industry, revolutionizing production processes and redefining audience experiences. This study delves into the mechanisms through which AI advancement impacts film firm performance, with a focus on the mediating roles of innovation speed and quality, and the moderating effect of human-machine collaboration. Employing a resource-based view, we construct a moderated mediation model and analyze data from 355 global film firms. Our findings reveal that AI advancement positively influences film firm performance, with innovation quality serving as a significant mediator. However, the mediating role of innovation speed is not pronounced. Moreover, the degree of human-machine collaboration positively moderates the relationships between AI advancement and both innovation speed and quality. However, its moderating role between AI advancement and firm performance is not significant. The study underscores the theoretical and practical implications of utilizing advanced AI to foster innovation and competitive advantage in film firms.

Bonding versus bridging: disentangling effects of CEO social capital on firm exploratory innovation

CEOs and the influence of their social networks have been considered as important drivers for firm innovation. Yet, both theories and empirical evidence are lacking. To advance this stream of research, our paper fills the gap by exploring how bonding and bridging social capital influence exploratory innovation in firms. Through an examination of executive social ties and patent‐based technology indicators, our findings reveal nuanced relationships: Excessive bonding social capital exponentially hampers exploratory innovation due to information overload, while bridging social capital enhances exploratory innovation and mitigates over‐bonding effects (inverted U‐shape). We test our hypotheses with a sample of 7,540 firm‐year observations of public U.S. firms from 2000 to 2014. Our study not only contributes to research on strategic leadership, social capital, interfirm networks, and technological innovation but also offers important managerial implications. It suggests that CEOs and R&D directors foster balanced social networks in their pursuit of enhanced innovation management.

Absorptive capacity in a more (or less) absorptive environment: A meta‐analysis of contextual effects on firm innovation

Absorptive capacity in a more (or less) absorptive environment: A meta‐analysis of contextual effects on firm innovation

Does environmental cooperation with suppliers matter under environmental strategy focus and digital technology knowledge?

ABSTRACT Environmental cooperation with suppliers (ECS) helps firms to effectively manage dispersed suppliers, thereby addressing stakeholders’ environmental concerns. However, the literature is inconclusive regarding the relationship between ECS and financial performance (FP). Unlike previous research on ECS, this study uses the motivation-opportunity-ability (MOA) theory to analyze the relationship between ECS and FP, with firm innovativeness as a mediator. Furthermore, environmental strategy focus and digital technology knowledge are considered contingent factors in the link between ECS and FP. The SPSS version of PROCESS was employed to test the hypotheses, using ordinary least squares regression with survey data collected from 136 Chinese firms. The results reveal that firm innovativeness positively mediates the relationship between ECS and FP. Moreover, environmental strategy focus and digital technology knowledge strengthen the indirect impact of ECS on FP via firm innovativeness. Finally, this study provides theoretical and practical implications for firms when implementing ECS and firm innovativeness.

Financial geographic structure and innovation quality: Evidence from Chinese firms amid economic policy uncertainty

In countries where indirect financing dominates, the geographic distribution of financial resources to firms is crucial in enhancing credit availability and improving innovation quality. This study examines the impact and heterogeneity of financial geographic structure on firm innovation quality. Using the number of bank branches surrounding Chinese listed companies as a proxy for financial geographic structure, we employ a multidimensional fixed effects model and Heckman's two-stage method, finding that a higher density of bank branches significantly enhances firms’ access to credit. This fosters innovation by increasing invention patent applications in high-tech non-state-owned enterprises and green patent applications in non-high-tech state-owned enterprises. However, as economic policy uncertainty increases, the positive effect of financial geographic structure on firm innovation diminishes. Hence, countries facing substantial policy uncertainty and relying on indirect financing must strengthen multilevel financial markets and encourage commercial banks to provide greater support for firms pursuing higher levels of innovation.

Tax incentives and corporate digital transformation: Evidence from China’s accelerated depreciation policy

Corporate digital transformation is a significant path for industrial upgrading and sustainable development. This study employs China’s accelerated depreciation (AD) policy as a quasi-natural experiment to explore the impacts of tax incentives on the digital transformation of enterprises. Using panel data of China’s listed companies from 2010 to 2019, we find that AD policy significantly promotes firms to engage in digitization practices through the channels of firm investment and firm innovation. We also find that the policy effects are more pronounced for firms with a higher level of digitization, firms with stronger financial constraints, non-state-owned enterprises, and firms located in East China. Moreover, we also present a positive relationship between digital transformation and firm performance. Our study supplements the literature on the determinants of digital transformation and provides insights into how tax policy shapes firms’ incentives to be more digitized.

Are innovative firms more circular when women hold upper positions?

The circular economy paradigm demands immediate and significant adjustments and changes in management and production business processes to maintain adequate to good ecosystem conditions for the use and development of human life. In this context, we analysed the impact of female leadership in the business environment and its relationship with the conservation of planetary health. This empowers women in the transition toward circular business model within the planet's capacity.For a panel data sample of the world's largest companies, we find that active female participation in high business positions leads to significant changes toward a model that protects the natural and endemic wealth of different ecosystems around de world. Additionally, we found that the active presence of women in the decision-making process concerning the protection of the environment, human development, and economic prosperity is strongly associated with the prospective knowledge that female independent directors possess, and to a greater extent, with the knowledge spillover that the presence of female executive directors entails.

The impact of mobile money adoption on firm innovation

Using firm-level survey data for 16 Sub-Saharan African countries, we find evidence that mobile money adoption increases firms’ innovation. Further analysis shows that mobile money fosters innovation by improving firms’ liquidity through greater access to trade credit and bank loans. Our findings suggest that policy measures to stimulate innovation in developing countries could focus on incentivizing firms to adopt mobile money.

Board characteristics and firm innovation: a qualitative comparative analysis

Board characteristics and firm innovation: a qualitative comparative analysis

Sustainable knowledge management: Driving green technology innovation and long-term performance in construction firms

Sustainable knowledge management: Driving green technology innovation and long-term performance in construction firms

Anti-corruption and firm innovation: political path dependence perspective

ABSTRACT Drawing on the concept of political path dependence, we hypothesise a positive impact of anti-corruption measures on firm innovation, illustrating how businesses can benefit from both eliminating illegal political ties (‘cleaning house’) and cultivating lawful relationships with the government (‘hosting new guests’). By analysing a sample of A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2015 using the PSM-DID model, we demonstrate that anti-corruption campaigns enhance innovation performance. Specifically, anti-corruption efforts sever the nexus of interests between government and businesses, curbing corporate expenditures on rent-seeking activities. Firms located in regions with stringent governmental oversight have experienced significant improvements in innovation outputs following the implementation of anti-corruption policies, particularly private-owned enterprises. This study provides empirical support for the benefits of anti-corruption from the perspective of political path dependence, offering valuable insights for governments aiming to bolster firm innovation through improved public governance and legal frameworks.

Does embeddedness in strategic alliances matter for innovation efficiency? The moderating roles of government R&D subsidies and standardization

PurposeThis paper investigates the impact of strategic alliance network centrality and structural holes on firm innovation efficiency. In addition, the paper aims to explore the moderating effects of government R&D subsidies and firm technology standardization.Design/methodology/approachBased upon the literature on strategic alliance networks, this paper proposes a conceptual model with several hypotheses. The empirical analysis is based on a sample of 736 observations from 92 mechanical manufacturing firms in China from 2010 to 2017. We measured firm innovation efficiency via the DEA model and performed quantitative analysis with GMM estimation.FindingsThe results indicate that strategic alliance network centrality is positively related to firm innovation efficiency, and structural holes have a U-shaped relationship with firm innovation efficiency. Government R&D subsidies positively moderate the relationship between centrality and firm innovation efficiency. Firm technology standardization positively moderates the relationship between centrality and firm innovation efficiency and the U-shaped relationship between structural holes and firm innovation efficiency.Practical implicationsFirms should focus on improving innovation efficiency and maximizing innovation output under limited resources. Furthermore, managers ought to strengthen cooperation between firms and external alliances while promoting the utilization of strategic alliance network position resources to benefit innovation efficiency.Originality/valueThis paper considers that innovation efficiency, including input and output processes, is more representative than innovation performance, and few studies have focused on the relationship between strategic alliance networks and innovation efficiency. To fill this research gap, this paper explores the impact of strategic alliance network position embedding on innovation efficiency.

Population density as the attractor of business to the place.

Firm location studies traditionally assume that this is business that attracts other business to a given location. They focus on knowledge transfers between the most productive and innovative firms and analyse agglomeration economies arising from matching, learning and sharing mechanisms. We argue that the population density also attracts firms to the place. Therefore, we extend this stream of research by using the concept of economies of density to discuss the effects of the attraction of firms by population. Our study explores the existence of the hierarchical causal mechanism that occurs when 2nd line firms understood as non-innovative, less productive retail and service businesses together with human settlement create an environment that attracts 1st line firms - the most innovative and productive businesses. We show that population density and business agglomeration jointly affect the location of firms in different sectors and should be considered as complementary rather than substitutable attraction factors.

Private entrepreneurs’ technical background and innovation output: The perspective of innovation quantity and quality

This study investigates the impact of entrepreneurs' technical backgrounds on innovation output from the perspective of innovation quantity and quality, using data from A-share listed private companies in China between 2009 and 2018. Our analysis reveals that CEOs with technical expertise significantly enhance both the quantity and quality of firm innovation. We identify three key mechanisms through which technical backgrounds promote innovation: increased management attention to innovation, reduced information asymmetry, and enhanced long-term investment. These findings contribute to the literature on Upper Echelons Theory and corporate innovation, offering practical insights for private enterprises aiming to achieve talent-driven technological innovation and foster high-quality development.

Does continuous innovation failure lead firm innovation to hesitate to press forward?: Evidence from Chinese-listed technology-intensive industries firms

Continuous innovation failure is a common phenomenon in the process of firm innovation. However, little is known about how continuous innovation failure affects firm innovation, and what factors moderate the relationship between them. Using the empirical data from China’s technology-intensive industries listed firms, we find that continuous innovation failure doesn’t lead firm innovation to hesitate to press forward but promotes firms to increase innovation. Managerial overconfidence strengthens the positive impact of continuous innovation failure on firm innovation. Interestingly, managerial power does not enhance but weakens the regulatory role of managerial overconfidence. Further analysis shows that continuous innovation failure will prompt firms to increase exploratory innovation and reduce exploitative innovation. Heterogeneity analysis finds that the promotion effect of continuous innovation failure on firm innovation will be enhanced in firms with higher financial redundancy, but will be weakened in firms with higher R&D subsidies.

The Power of Calling: How Founder CEOs Drive Ambidexterity and Innovation in Firms

The Power of Calling: How Founder CEOs Drive Ambidexterity and Innovation in Firms

Environmental regulation, academic top managers and green innovation: Evidence from China

This study examines the impact of top managers’ academic backgrounds on green innovation within the context of China’s new Environmental Protection Law. Utilizing green patent data from listed companies in the China A-Share market from 2008 to 2019, and employing the DID approach, we find the law significantly boosts green innovation in firms led by academically skilled managers. However, this effect diminishes in state-owned enterprises and financially constrained firms. Our findings emphasize the critical roles of managerial academic backgrounds and autonomy in advancing green innovation.

Key drivers of green innovation in family firms: a machine learning approach

Key drivers of green innovation in family firms: a machine learning approach

How knowledge-based HRM practices affects aspects of innovation capability through knowledge management: the moderating role of innovative culture

Purpose Given the important of knowledge resource and human capital for improving innovation competence, the purpose of this study is to examine the influence of knowledge-based HRM practices on product and process innovation of firms via the mediating role of knowledge management capability and moderating role of innovative culture. Design/methodology/approach The paper used structural equation modeling and empirical data collected from 271 participants in 156 manufacturing and service firms to examine the level of how knowledge-based HRM practices and knowledge management affect product and process innovation under the moderating role of innovative culture. Findings The research findings confirm the mediating roles of knowledge management between knowledge-based HRM practices and two specific types of innovation namely product and process innovation. It also firstly reveals the positive moderating role of innovative culture in enhancing the effects of knowledge management on product innovation. The results underline the necessity of building an innovative climate and knowledge-based HRM practices to stimulate knowledge management for improving innovation capability of firms in the developing and emerging markets. Research limitations/implications The paper helps bring deeper insights to leaders and practitioners about the new knowledge-based approach that enhances innovation competence for organizations. Originality/value The paper significantly contributed to theoretical and practical initiatives on theory of HRM practices and knowledge management by showing different moderating and mediating mechanism thereby firms can follow to enhance innovation capability of firms in developing and emerging markets.

How does the interaction of digitalization and servitization contribute to manufacturing financial performance? The intermediary effect of manufacturing innovation performance

Digitalization and servitization are two crucial transition pathways for manufacturing firms, with their relationship explored by some existing studies. However, there is limited research on the mechanism of their interaction's effect on the firm financial performance. To address the gap, this paper draws on service-dominant logic, resource-based view and dynamic capabilities theory to establish a theoretical model. A sample of 567 Chinese manufacturing firms is selected, and a mediated moderation model is used to explore this mechanism. The findings indicate that the interaction between digitalization and servitization has a positive effect on the firm financial performance, with firm innovation performance partially mediating the relationship. Besides, heterogeneity analysis reveals that this interactive effect is mainly manifested in capital and technology-intensive manufacturing sectors. Therefore, this paper suggests managers in manufacturing firms promote the interaction between digitalization and servitization, leveraging their synergy to advance the sustainable long-term development of both the manufacturing firm and industry.