网络密度、高管注意力配置与企业绿色创新:制度压力的调节作用

本文整合社会网络理论、注意力基础观和新制度主义理论等,通过对282家制造企业的问卷调查,采用多元回归分析方法,探讨了网络密度和高管注意力配置的交互匹配对企业绿色创新的影响机制,以及制度压力在其中的调节作用。研究发现,在高密度网络中,高管采用注意力聚集策略对绿色创新有显著正向影响;而在低密度网络中,高管采用注意力分散策略对绿色创新有显著正向影响。规制压力和模仿压力均正向调节网络密度和高管注意力配置的交互作用对绿色创新的影响,但模仿压力的调节作用更强。通过构建不同制度压力情景下网络密度与高管注意力的交互作用对绿色创新影响的理论框架,本文推动社会网络理论、注意力基础观等成熟的理论成果从一般创新向绿色创新研究领域繁衍,为企业绿色创新加入与主流理论的对话做了努力,为企业在绿色创新过程中根据不同的制度压力,以及所嵌入的组织间网络密度情况,选择合适的注意力配置策略提供理论参考。

Network density,attention allocation of TM and firm green innovation:The moderating effect of institutional pressure

In the process of firm development in China,the problem of environmental damage has become increasingly serious.Under this background,“Made in China 2025”takes firms green innovation as the key to solve environmental problems.Therefore,how can firms better achieve green innovation has become a hot topic of academic research.Some studies in the field of social network have found that firms form inter-organizational network by establishing contact with external organizations and acquire relevant knowledge from them,which is regarded as an effective way to launch green innovation.However,the current research in the field of social network is difficult to answer which structure of inter-organizational network embedded by firms is more conducive to green innovation.As for the above problems,the attention-based view of upper echelon theory from strategic management is a clue.According to this theory,the behavior and decision-making of firms are to some extent the reflection of the attention allocation of firms′TM(top managers).Top managers will bring their“focus and preference”into the decision-making process consciously or unconsciously.By integrating social network theory and attention-based view of upper echelon theory,this paper argues that the attention allocation of firms′TM plays a key role in the process of firms acquiring the knowledge needed for green innovation through inter-organizational networks.The interaction effect of inter-organizational network density and attention allocation of TM has a differentiated impact on firms green innovation.In addition,the attention allocation of TM to issues related to green innovation will also be affected by external institutional pressure.Institutional pressure has a moderating effect on the relationship between inter-organizational networks,attention allocation of TM and firms green innovation.This paper studies the impact of the interaction effects of inter-organizational network density and the attention allocation of TM on firms green innovation,and the moderating effect of institutional pressure on the relationship between them,by a questionnaire survey of 282 manufacturing firms and multiple regression analysis.It supposes that compared with the divided attention of TM,the focused attention of TM has positive effects on firms green innovation in high-density inter-organizational networks.Compared with the focused attention of TM,the divided attention of TM has positive effects on firms green innovation in low-density inter-organizational networks.For the interaction effects of inter-organizational network density and attention allocation of TM on green innovation,coercive pressure and mimetic pressure have a significant positive moderating effect on them,but mimetic pressure has a stronger moderating effect on them.Our findings reveal that the attention allocation of TM is an important transmission mechanism for inter-organizational network to influence firms green innovation.As a potential external resource,inter-organizational network will have a substantial impact on firms green innovation through the interaction effects with the attention allocation of TM.In the inter-organizational network with different densities,firms′TM needs to adopt different attention allocation strategies to obtain the ideal effect of green innovation.Specifically,in high-density inter-organizational networks,the focused attention strategy is a better choice;in low-density inter-organizational networks,it is better to adopt the divided attention strategy.For the interaction effects of network density and attention allocation of TM on green innovation,coercive pressure and mimetic pressure have a significant positive moderating effect on them.But the driving force of green innovation from mimetic pressure has a greater impact on firms′TM.Market competitive advantage is an important motivation for firms′TM to pay attention to green innovation and promote green innovation decision-making.The theoretical contributions of this paper are as follows:(1)By revealing the impact of the interaction effects of network density and attention allocation of TM on firms green innovation,this paper makes up for the deficiency of the insufficient attention on the cognitive factors of firms′TM in the research of green innovation,and helps us better understand the mechanism of firms green innovation from the perspective of TM.(2)This paper identities the response mechanism of firms green innovation under different institutional pressures and more deeply explaining the organizational heterogeneity of Chinese firms green innovation.(3)It promets the proliferation of mature theoretical achievements such as social network theory and attention-based view from general innovation to green innovation research,and make efforts for firms green innovation to join the mainstream theory.The management implications of this paper are as follows:(1)According to the density of inter-organizational networks embedded by the firm,top managers should choose the appropriate attention allocation strategies to better acquire green innovation-related knowledge from the network.In high-density inter-organizational networks,top managers should choose the focused attention strategy to a few key partners.In low-density inter-organizational networks,top managers should choose the divided attention strategy to more partners.(2)For the governments,on the one hand,it is necessary to promote the development of green innovation by formulating and improving various mandatory laws and regulations.On the other hand,the governments must give full play to the role of market competition mechanism in promoting firms green innovation.