How cooperative innovation could be more effective in China: a relationship perspective
Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing
ISSN: 0885-8624
Article publication date: 4 January 2021
Issue publication date: 13 August 2021
Abstract
Purpose
Considering strategic information sharing (SIS), this paper aims to develop a better understanding of how relation-specific investments (RSIs) influence cooperative innovation performance (CIP) in downstream channel relationships. Also examined was the moderating effect of relational trust in that the indigenous practice of guanxi is especially critical in China.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected through a questionnaire in Chinese high-tech industries, with a valid response from 310 companies. A hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the conceptual model and hypotheses, combining mediation and moderation analysis.
Findings
Results show that the influences of specific investments vary according to the specificity dimensions examined. Specifically, human RSI influences CIP and SIS most significantly, and the impact of procedural RSI is, relatively, the weakest. Relational trust’s moderating role is confirmed, and SIS plays a partially mediating role in enhancing vertical cooperative innovation.
Practical implications
Managers should know clearly different roles of RSIs in inter-firm cooperative innovation and prioritize human RSI and brand RSI when investing into channels. More importantly, the findings reveal that strategy-level information sharing should be valued more. It is also recommended that relational ties are vital, especially in Chinese business context.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is among the first few to investigate how the effects of disaggregated RSIs in inter-firm cooperative innovation vary and the importance of SIS in vertical relationships. The results provide insightful guidance for researchers and managers in how to better manage RSIs to improve CIP.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors greatly acknowledge the financial support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71472153). They also wish to express their gratitude to the Editor and anonymous reviewers for the constructive comments on earlier versions of this manuscript.
Citation
Chi, R., Zhang, J. and Deng, G. (2021), "How cooperative innovation could be more effective in China: a relationship perspective", Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 36 No. 8, pp. 1358-1370. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-03-2020-0168
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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