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| The Impact of the Transformation Ability of Scientific Research Achievements, Alumni Network and Enterprise Innovation of Senior Executives' Alma Mater |
| Guo Jinzhong,Li Moxin |
| (School of Information Management, Xinjiang University of Finance and Economics, Urumqi 830012, China) |
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Abstract With the ongoing technological and industrial revolution today, the establishment of an innovation consortium with the joint participation of enterprises, colleges and universities and other innovation parties has become particularly crucial.Colleges and universities, as one of the external sources of enterprise innovation, serve as an essential launchpad for both domestic and international innovative efforts.It has been found in recent years that the scientific research outcomes produced directly or transformed by colleges and universities are witnessing a gradual increase, whereas scientific research outcomes such as the patents of colleges and universities could not fulfill their innovation value until they are transformed into productivity.Thus,enterprises have to fully assimilate the innovative elements in the scientific research outcomes of colleges and universities, so as to drive the innovative development of enterprises and even industries along their scientific research progress.According to the upper echelon theory, the background and social ties of the executive team including managers and decision makers of the enterprise will affect their preferences, cognitive patterns and value orientations and then shape the actions and performance of the enterprise.As a result, the alma mater backgrounds and alumni ties of the executive team typically represent competence and social bonds.#br#The existing studies reveal that there is a strong bond between executives and their alma maters as a result of "alma mater consciousness" which will gradually form a trust pattern and bring each other into closer contact as well as a sense of shared identity in the communication between universities and enterprises, and sometimes lay the foundation for the future innovation cooperation.However, it is also believed that the excessive growth of the executives alma mater complex may also entrench the innovative mindset of the enterprise and lead to over-reliance on the research results and the alumni network.Therefore, in order to investigate whether executives would be able to extract advanced scientific and technological measures and information from the research results transformed by their alma maters, and thus enhance the innovation capability of the enterprise, and whether the circle effect of alumni networks might impose a negative impact on enterprise innovation, this article draws on the data of high-tech enterprises listed on A-shares in China from 2011 to 2020 and constructs alumni networks by social network analysis, so as to investigate the effect of the ability of alma mater of executives in transforming scientific research outcomes, alumni networks and the interaction between the two on enterprise innovation with a fixed-effect model.#br#The study finds that firstly the ability of executives' alma mater in transforming research outcomes significantly improves the input and output of enterprise innovation; secondly, the centrality of alumni network significantly contributes to the input and output of enterprise innovation; thirdly, the closer the enterprise is positioned in the center of the alumni network, the more obvious the role of the ability of executives' alma mater in transforming research outcomes and improving the input and output of enterprise innovation.In addition, the overemphasis on "alma mater consciousness" may be detrimental to corporate innovation; however, this moderating effect turns out to be insignificant when the enterprise is positioned at the center of the alumni network.#br#The study highlights three major contributions.First, compared with existing studies, the findings of this article facilitate the interpretation of the knowledge sources of Chinese enterprise innovations by taking into account the ability of the executive's alma mater in transforming research outcomes, adding to the literature body on executives’ social networks, with the alumni networks as one of the entry points.Second, the findings indicate the critical role of the ability of the executive's alma mater in transforming research outcomes and alumni networks in the enterprise innovation process, providing a certain practical insight into the configuration of top executive teams in China, the education advancement of the executives, and the allocation of innovation resources and the management of social networks for the enterprises.Third, it is found that an innovation-based alma mater bond can however have a negative impact on enterprises' assimilation of overseas resources, suggesting that enterprises should break the limits of the alumni "circle" to actively select and motivate talents with composite backgrounds.#br#
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Received: 15 April 2022
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