Ideological Imprints and Corporate Innovation: Evidence from China

Syed Tauseef Ali (), Joseph H. Zhang (), Farman Ali (), Misraku Molla Ayalew () and Muhammad Ullah ()
Additional contact information
Syed Tauseef Ali: Dongbei University of Finance and Economics
Joseph H. Zhang: The University of Memphis
Farman Ali: King Faisal University
Misraku Molla Ayalew: Dilla University
Muhammad Ullah: Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology

Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, No 40, 1029-1068

Abstract: Abstract This study draws insights from the imprinting theory to investigate the impact of ideologically imprinted board chairs on corporate innovation. By examining a sample of Chinese listed manufacturing firms from 2003 to 2016, we find that firms with board chairs who get socialized during the hardline communist regime enhance corporate innovation. Further, we observe that such a positive effect on corporate innovation is more pronounced for firms where board chairs have more power on the board. However, their industry experience attenuates the documented positive relation. Overall, we provide empirical support to our arguments that intense adverse experiences such as the Cultural Revolution and Great Leap Forward Movements make top executives more sensitive to government demands, such as achieving annual patent targets, thus spurring corporate innovation. Our findings extend imprinting theory by elaborating that the intense political environment plays a crucial role in establishing an individual’s imprints which prevail for a long time irrespective of subsequent ideological changes. These findings provide fresh insights on the dynamics of ideological decay and persistence.

Keywords: Corporate innovation; Board chair; Ideological imprint; Industry experience (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13132-023-01113-2 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:jknowl:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s13132-023-01113-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/13132

DOI: 10.1007/s13132-023-01113-2

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of the Knowledge Economy is currently edited by Elias G. Carayannis

More articles in Journal of the Knowledge Economy from Springer, Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().