Effect of HTE certification on external resource acquisition and firm performance: evidence from China

ABSTRACT

This paper argues that the high-tech enterprise certification (HTE certification) can facilitate firm performance and that this effect is mediated by external resource acquisition, including venture capital and human resource in the context of China. Using the Chinese industrial enterprise database and difference–in-difference approach, our results indicate that: (a) HTE certification is positively associated with external resource acquisition, namely, venture capital and human resource; (b) both venture capital and human resource are positively related to firm performance and (c) the external resource acquisition including venture capital and human resource mediates the relationship between HTE certification and firm performance.

KEYWORDS:

• HTE certification
• information asymmetry
• legitimacy
• signal
• firm performance

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to appreciate the valuable comments of the anonymous reviewers. All errors remain the sole responsibility of the authors.

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 We do not add variables Treat_i and Post_i,t in the models with the presence of firm and year fixed effects to void the problem of multicollinearity.

2 We also use two-year or three-year lagged values to do robust tests, and the results remain largely consistent.

3 http://www.most.gov.cn/tztg/200807/t20080711_63012.htm.

4 It can obtain consistent results with 1:1 or 1:5 nearest-neighbour matching algorithm.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by 2017-2019 Sino-French Cai Yuanpei Programme is supported by China Scholarship Council under grant number 34446WF, National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant number 71974136 and 72004026, Innovation Strategy Research Program of Fujian Province “The spillover of the invention star in innovation: Research based on multi-level perspective” under grant number 2020R01020093 and funding of Fuzhou University under grant number GXRC201916.

Notes on contributors

Maoyan She

Maoyan She is a lecturer of College of Management Science, Chengdu University of Technology. Her research focuses on technology innovation. She has previously published on Journal of Small Business Management and Business Strategy and the Environment.

Yuandi Wang

Yuandi Wang is a Professor of the Business School of Sichuan University. His research focuses on business management, technology innovation and R&D internationalisation. His work has been published in Technovation, and Long Range Planning, Technological Forecasting and Social Change and IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management and so on.

Die Hu

Die Hu is a lecturer at the School of Economics and Management of Fuzhou University. Her research interests include technology innovation. She has previously published on Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Organization & Environment, Business Strategy and the Environment and so on.