摘要
现有研究认为信号传递有助于降低技术创新扩散过程中企业面临的“非合法性折扣”风险,但就如何有效使用信号传递策略存在悖论。基于最优区分理论,以网络资源身份特征作为企业信号传递的主要表征,在区分一致性和差异性的基础上,探索两者对技术创新扩散的协同效应。基于中国沪深上市高技术企业样本,发现在控制企业信号传递一致性和差异性特征的前提下,二者交互是影响技术创新扩散的主要因素,并且该影响受到企业历史业绩的负向调节。研究结论有助于拓展信号传递理论在技术创新扩散领域的应用,为企业创新实践提供经验参考。
Market audiences rely on categories to evaluate market offerings,and there might be the“illegitimacy discount”problem when they deviate from category norms.By definition,technological innovation naturally suffers from such a problem,yet it is usually rewarded by the market.Recent studies employ the signaling theory to explain this phenomenon.They argue that innovation suppliers may use their identities as signals to reduce the information asymmetry between their innovations and market audiences.However,some studies emphasize signal conformity,i.e.,the identity of an innovation supplier should be similar with peer organizations to achieve institutional legitimacy;while others highlight signal differentiation,i.e.,the identity of an innovation supplier should be different from peer organizations to obtain competitive advantages.Such an inconsistency requires further investigation.The above paradoxical arguments may be caused by the complexity of signaling strategies as well as the influence of boundary conditions.First,this study draws on optimal distinctiveness theory which argues that a firm's strategy should concern both conformity and differentiation to achieve legitimacy and competitive advantages simultaneously for the maximization of economic performance.As such,the reason for using identities as signals to promote audiences'perception is the orchestration of signal conformity and signal differentiation.However,these two signal attributes are commonly assessed in isolation rather than in their entirety.Second,most extant literature has taken a general view that firms'signals are related to technological innovation diffusion,yet few studies examine under what conditions signals are more or less effective.Drawing on the contingency theory,the study argues that the effectiveness of a strategy depends on both a firm's internal resources and the business environment.On the one hand,the signaling theory suggests that market audiences rely on signals when the value of innovation is unobservable.Thus,the effect of a firm's signals on technological innovation diffusion may become weaker when audiences have greater visibility of innovations'objective properties,such as track record.On the other hand,with the increase of the number of competitors in an industry,more efforts are required to evaluate these signals from audiences,which may result in lower signals'effectiveness.To resolve the aforementioned research gaps,this paper uses a firm's network as the proxy for signals to explore the impact of the orchestration of the conformity and differentiation of signals on technological innovation diffusion.This is because network is one of the most important signals as previous studies have implied.The moderating effects of track record and competition on this relationship are investigated.The framework is examined based on the sample collected from high-tech firms that went public between 2008 and 2021 in the pharmaceutical manufacturing,aerospace product and parts manufacturing,computer and electronic product manufacturing,electrical equipment and component manufacturing,and chemical manufacturing sectors.The final sample includes 223 firms after a series of assembling steps.The fixed-effect model is employed to test hypotheses,other methods including alternative measurements,instrumental variable estimation and sub-group re-estimation are all applied in the robustness tests.The empirical results show that(1)the orchestration of the conformity and differentiation of signals could promote technological innovation diffusion;(2)such a relationship is weakened when a firm has outstanding track records.These findings contribute to the existing literature in three ways.First,drawing on the optimal distinctiveness theory,this study conceptualizes a firm's signals as signal conformity and signal differentiation,and it measures them by employing text mining analysis.Second,it enriches the understanding of the relationship between a firm's signals and technological innovation diffusion by showing that signal conformity and signal differentiation may impact technological innovation diffusion interactively.Third,it advances the boundary conditions of the application of optimal distinctiveness theory.Accordingly,enterprises should play an active role in enterprise signal transmission in the process of technological innovation diffusion.They could fully disclose internal information and play an active role in the diffusion of technological innovation.The better their historical performance is,the better their level of technological innovation diffusion will be.Meanwhile,the government needs to guide enterprises to strategically disclose identity information,give full consideration to consistency and diversity,and encourage enterprises to compete reasonably so as to build an orderly and healthy market environment,improve the effectiveness of market operation and minimize market failure.
作者
万君
苗仲桢
季桓永
周思源
Wan Jun;Miao Zhongzhen;Ji Huanyong;Zhou Siyuan(School of Economics and Management,Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications,Beijing 100876,China;School of Public Policy and Management,Tsinghua University,Beijing 100084,China;School of Economics and Management,Beijing Information Science and Technology University,Beijing 100096,China)
出处
《科技进步与对策》
CSSCI
北大核心
2023年第10期58-66,共9页
Science & Technology Progress and Policy
基金
国家自然科学基金青年项目(72102020)
北京市社会科学基金项目(22JCC080)。
关键词
技术创新扩散
企业信号传递
最优区分理论
企业历史业绩
行业竞争程度
Technological Innovation Diffusion
Firms'Signaling
Optimal Distinctiveness Theory
Track Records
Industry Competition
