Stakeholder network for developing open innovation practice of China's manufacturing enterprises

Abstract

The study aims to investigate the impact of stakeholder network characteristics on a company's open innovation performance. To investigate the innovation performance of a company. This study not only demonstrates the impact of stakeholder network characteristics on a firm's open innovation performance but also provides empirical evidence for accelerating the construction of an innovation ecology at the national and industry levels and using innovation networks to promote firm innovation performance. Panel data from 1507 listed manufacturing firms in China from 2008 to 2018 are used. A particular focus is on the role of absorptive capacity in the relationship. The results show that centrality, stability, and stakeholder network size are positively correlated or have an inverted U-shaped relationship with the firm's open innovation performance. The results show that the centrality, stability and stakeholder network size are positively correlated or have an inverse U-shaped relationship with the firm's open innovation performance, while the effects of stakeholder network density on the firm's open innovation performance are not significant. Furthermore, absorptive capacity is found to play a moderating role in the inverted U-shaped relationship between the former two factors, and the inverted U-shaped relationship between stakeholder network characteristics and a firm's open innovation performance is also significant under the conditions of different technology levels and different types of firms.

Keywords

• Absorptive capacity
• Manufacturing enterprise
• Open innovation
• Stakeholder network