Do social ties foster firms’ environmental innovation? The moderating effect of resource bricolage

ABSTRACT

While social ties are central to the field of innovation, the research on the relationship between social ties and environmental innovation is lacking. Based on the resource-based view and social network theory, we construct a research model for identifying the relationships between social ties, resource bricolage, and environmental innovation; we use this to examine the impacts of business, political, and research and development (R&D) ties on firms’ levels of radical and incremental eco-innovation, as well as the moderating role of resource bricolage. Multiple regression analysis using survey data from 289 Chinese manufacturing firms is conducted. The results show that political and R&D ties can effectively promote radical eco-innovation, while business and political ties promote incremental eco-innovation. Furthermore, resource bricolage plays a positive moderating role in the relationships between firms’ political ties and environmental innovation. These conclusions have certain implications for firms, offering useful insight on how to take full advantage of social ties to acquire various resources and harness resource bricolage strategies to support environmental innovation.

KEYWORDS:

• Social ties
• resource bricolage
• environmental innovation
• research and development ties

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Major project of National Social Science Fund of China (20ZDA088).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Major project of National Social Science Fund of China (20ZDA088).

Notes on contributors

Zhongju Liao

Zhongju Liao is a Professor at college of Economics & Management in Zhejiang Sci-Tech University. He received his master degree in business management from the Zhejiang Sci-Tech University of China in 2011, and earned his PhD degree in business management from Zhejiang University in 2015. His current research includes environmental policy and eco-innovation. His research outputs have been published in major international journals, such as Business Strategy and the Environment, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Journal of Cleaner Production, and Asian Journal of Technology Innovation.

Chen Weng

Chen Weng is a master student at the School of Economics & Management, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University. Her current research focuses on environmental innovation.

Siying Long

Siying Long is an Assistant Professor at college of Economics & Management, South China Agricultural University. She received her PhD degree in business management from Zhejiang University in 2016. Her main research interests are in strategic management and innovation. Her work has been published in major international journals such as Asian Journal of Technology Innovation, Business Strategy and the Environment, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management.

Zengrui Xiao

Zengrui Xiao is a lecturer at School of International Education, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University. He received his PhD degree in business management from Zhejiang University in 2018. His main research interests are in corporate social responsibility and strategic management. His work has been published in major international journals such as Asian Journal of Technology Innovation.