How to Improve an Enterprise’s Innovation Capability from the Perspective of High- and Low-Level Enterprises Using Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Xiaoyu Bai (), Shengxu Xiong, Zhe Zhou and Xin Liu
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Xiaoyu Bai: School of Business Administration, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China
Shengxu Xiong: School of Business Administration, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China
Zhe Zhou: School of Public Health & Management, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou 325015, China
Xin Liu: School of Management, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan 430024, China

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 7, 1-15

Abstract: An enterprise’s capability is based on the quantity and collocation pattern of the heterogeneous resources it possesses. Innovation resources are the source of enterprise innovation capability. However, there is still a “black box” problem of the impact of the intensity of government support on enterprise innovation. Therefore, it is necessary to study high- or low-level enterprise innovation capability by combining the internal and external factors of the enterprise—the background characteristics of R&D personnel and the degree of government support. Based on the configuration perspective, this study uses the qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method to conduct a comparative analysis of the innovation capabilities of enterprises in five time windows over six years with the longitudinal database of China’s industrial enterprises whose operating income exceeds RMB 20 million from 2010 to 2015. This paper summarizes two ways of realizing high-level enterprise innovation capability: female and highly educated R&D personnel type, and highly educated R&D personnel and high government investment type. The enterprise innovation capability is affected simultaneously by multiple conditional variables, and the impact of each conditional variable on enterprise innovation capability has a trend. Further, it analyzes the impact of every antecedent variable comparing high- to low-level enterprise innovation.

Keywords: R&D personnel backgrounds; government investment; high/low level enterprises; fs-QCA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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