A Study of the Influence of Entrepreneurs' Geographic and Academic Relationships on Corporate Innovation

Fairtown Ayoungman, Liyuan Pang, Yingjing Chu

OAI: oai:igi-global.com:315289 • DOI: 10.4018/JOEUC.315289

Corporate innovation is the driver and wellspring of business operation and development. Thus, how entrepreneurs can enhance the innovation capabilities of their enterprises is an important topic in corporate development. Taking A-shares companies listed on the Shenzhen and Shanghai stock exchanges as its sample, this paper investigated the influence of entrepreneurs' geographic and academic relationships on corporate innovation. This study found that after controlling for other influencing factors, entrepreneurs' geographic and academic relationships have a significant positive effect on corporate innovation. When entrepreneurs have strong ability endowment, the positive effect of their geographic and academic relationships on corporate innovation is especially sizeable. In addition, the more prestigious the entrepreneurs' university education is, the stronger the promoting effect of their academic relationships on corporate innovation.