How Does A Firm’s Previous Social Network Position Affect Innovation? Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies

Xuan Wei and Wei Chen
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Xuan Wei: School of Economic and Management, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, China
Wei Chen: School of Economic and Management, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, China

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 4, 1-20

Abstract: The impact of social network position on innovation has been widely confirmed in past studies. However, research on the time-lag structure of the impact is still insufficient. Within the time window 2010 to 2017, this study constructs a two-mode social network between Chinese listed companies and other participants. To analyze the lag structure of the effect of social network position on innovation, this study uses a panel negative binomial regression model transformed by the Almon polynomial. The results show that a firm does need an advantageous past social network position for innovation. Previous local and global centrality in a social network has a different influence on innovation. For the local centrality indices, degree centrality has a positive impact in the short-term, but has a negative impact in the long-term; the impact of betweenness centrality is not significant in the short-term and is negative in the long run. For the global centrality indices, closeness centrality has a positive influence that decreases with the increase of the time-lag. At the same time, using the method of necessary condition analysis (NCA), this study calculates the bottleneck for a given innovation level. Finally, based on these research conclusions, the theoretical implications and management practice implications are summarized.

Keywords: social network position; firms’ innovation; time-lag structure; Almon polynomial transformation; panel negative binomial regression; necessary condition analysis (NCA) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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