Halo effect of university: the reputation and technology cross-regional commercialisation in China

ABSTRACT

The relationship between halo effect and cross-regional commercialisation of technology in universities is a very important issue that has not been answered theoretically. Based on signal theory and information asymmetry theory, universities with different reputations have their scope of influence and competitive advantages, and studying the cross-regional commercialisation of technology under the political border effect is worthwhile. Given the panel data of universities directly under the Ministry of Education, the relationship between the cross-regional commercialisation of universities and their reputation is non-linear, that is, the reputation mechanism plays a prominent role after breaking the province boundary. Specifically, high-reputation universities have higher technology transfer advantages in interprovince commercialisation, whereas relatively low-reputation ones perform better in intraprovince commercialisation. Moreover, improving research quality can compensate for the disadvantage of low-reputation universities in cross-regional technology transfer, whereas government incentive policies can retain more research results from high-reputation universities locally. Our study provides theoretical guidance for the optimization and adjustment of science and technology achievement transfer policies in China, especially for promoting science and technology achievement transfer, as well as providing practical references for retaining high-quality science and technology achievements in the region.

KEYWORDS:

• University patent
• halo effect
• cross-regional commercialisation
• research quality
• incentive policy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 ‘Compilation of Science and Technology Statistics for Higher Education Institutions in 2021’ published by Ministry of Education.

2 http://www.cnipa.gov.cn/

3 https://www.zhihuiya.com/

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Social Science Fund of China: [Grant Number 21BGL266].

Notes on contributors

Libing Nie

Libing Nie is currently completing a Ph.D. degree in business management at Economics and Management School, Wuhan University. His research interests include innovation management, technology transfer and green technology innovation. His work has been published in Journal of Industry-University Collaboration and many toptier Chinese management-related journals.

Hong Gong

Professor Hong Gong obtained a Doctor of Philosophy in Management from Hunan University, China at 2006. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the faculty of economics at Tsinghua University, China (2006–2008). Currently, he is a Professor at Economics and Management School, Wuhan University, China, teaching doctoral and graduate students management and human capital theory. His areas of expertise involve innovation management, technology and innovation policy, economics of innovation and university technology transfer.

Xiuping Lai

Xiuping Lai is now a doctoral student at School of Business, Nanjing University, China. Her research areas include open innovation and knowledge management, especially in the setting of health care.

Mengyue Chang

Mengyue Chang is now pursuing a master's degree in Management at Economics and Management School, Wuhan University. Her research includes technology innovation and corporate governance.