1 Introduction
2 Literature review and hypothesis development
2.1 Executive alumni networks centrality and firm innovation
2.2 The moderating effect of executives’ academic experience
2.3 Knowledge spillovers from geographic proximity
2.3.1 Executive alumni networks location, provincial university publications, and firm innovation
2.3.2 Executive alumni networks location, provincial university patents, and firm innovation
3 Research design
3.1 Sample selection and data sources
3.2 Description of variables
3.2.1 Dependent variable
3.2.1 Independent variables
3.2.3 Moderator variables
3.2.4 Controlled variables
3.3 Model setup
3.4 Descriptive analysis
Table 1. Descriptive statistics of the main variables. |
Variable | Average | Standard | Min | Max |
---|---|---|---|---|
Innovation | 2.469 | 1.591 | 0 | 6.727 |
Deg | 0.024 | 0.016 | 0 | 0.074 |
Close | 0.412 | 0.048 | 0.318 | 0.613 |
Scientific & technical writings | 5.374 | 0.771 | 2.773 | 6.733 |
papers | 10.676 | .695 | 7.925 | 11.611 |
patent_applications | 9.175 | 1.011 | 5.088 | 10.775 |
patent_transformation | 4.377 | 0.936 | 0.693 | 5.308 |
alumni_patentApplictaions | 6.681 | 1.085 | 1.386 | 8.153 |
academic_background | 0.170 | 0.097 | 0 | 0.601 |
Age | 3.952 | 0.101 | 3.664 | 4.174 |
Edu | 1.366 | 0.196 | 0.693 | 1.609 |
Board | 1.37 | 0.067 | 1.099 | 1.386 |
Cashflow | 0.047 | 0.063 | -0.138 | 0.216 |
TobinQ | 1.076 | 0.345 | 0.607 | 2.252 |
ProfitRate | 0.134 | 0.73 | -6.499 | 2.49 |
LiauidityRatio | 1.164 | 0.534 | 0.306 | 2.971 |
ROA | 0.042 | 0.059 | -0.271 | 0.183 |
TTM | 0.269 | 0.138 | 0.022 | 0.636 |
Figure 1. Pearson correlation & scatter plot with quadratic fit. |
4 Empirical analysis
4.1 Baseline regression
Table 2. Baseline Regression. |
Variable | Innovation | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
(1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | |
Deg | -13.123*** | -24.978*** | -22.535*** | -11.426*** |
( -15.29) | (-11.69) | (-10.52) | (-3.80) | |
Deg2 | 217.841*** | 204.783*** | 137.178*** | |
(6.05) | (5.64) | (3.20) | ||
Cashflow | 0.885*** | 0.216 | ||
(3.98) | (1.06) | |||
TobinQ | -0.146*** | -0.124** | ||
(-3.14) | (-2.53) | |||
ProfitRate | -0.017 | -0.057*** | ||
(-1.17) | (-4.37) | |||
LiquidityRatio | -0.397*** | -.107*** | ||
(-9.10) | (-2.66) | |||
ROA | -1.694*** | -0.56 | ||
(-4.05) | (-1.46) | |||
TTM | 0.262 | 0.094 | ||
(0.99) | (0.39) | |||
Age | 2.107*** | 0.5*** | ||
(11.48) | (2.93) | |||
Edu | 0.736** | 0.184** | ||
(7.93) | (2.17) | |||
Board | 0.774** | 0.291 | ||
(2.56) | (1.07) | |||
Constant | 2.808*** | 2.912*** | -6.938*** | -0.631 |
(125.82) | (103.49) | (-8.06) | (-0.79) | |
Industry / Region / Year | No | No | No | Yes |
N | 10129 | 10129 | 10129 | 10129 |
Adj.R2 | 0.033 | 0.039 | 0.095 | 0.271 |
Figure 2. Top 20 industries where alumni networks centrality exceeds the turning point. |
4.2 Robustness test
4.2.1 The “U-shaped” relationship test
Table 3. “U-shape” Relationship Test. |
Lower bound | upper bound | |
---|---|---|
Interval | 0.000 | 0.074 |
Slope | -11.314 | 8.858 |
t-value | -3.804 | 2.427 |
P > | t | | 0.000 | 0.008 |
Overall test of presence of a U shape | ||
t-value = 2.43 | ||
P > | t | = 0.008 |
4.2.2 Alternative variables regression test
Table 4. Surrogate regression. |
Variable | Innovation | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
(1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | |
Close | -0.544** | -11.984*** | -13.707*** | -9.017*** |
(-1.98) | (-4.43) | (-4.99) | (-3.60) | |
Close2 | 12.767*** | 15.01*** | 9.881*** | |
(4.25) | (4.92) | (3.56) | ||
Constant | 2.721*** | 5.238*** | -5.324*** | 1.09 |
(23.91) | (8.69) | (-5.04) | (1.14) | |
Control | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Industry / Region / Year | No | No | No | Yes |
N | 10129 | 10129 | 10129 | 10129 |
Adj.R2 | 0.001 | 0.003 | 0.069 | 0.270 |
4.2.3 Other robustness tests
Table 5. Other robustness test results. |
Variable | (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Manufacturing industry | State enterprise | non-state enterprise | Explanatory variables lagged | |
Deg | -15.548*** | -10.038** | -10.396** | -7.499** |
(-4.47) | (4.803) | (3.951) | (-2.53) | |
Deg2 | 189.524*** | 125.289* | 124.245** | 109.073*** |
(3.83) | (68.518) | (56.525) | (2.61) | |
Constant | 0.337 | 1.179 | -1.731* | -0.767 |
(0.36) | (1.426) | (0.988) | (-0.96) | |
Control | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Industry / Region / Year | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
N | 10129 | 10129 | 10129 | 10129 |
Adj.R2 | 0.101 | 0.040 | 0.085 | 0.269 |
4.3 Further analysis
4.3.1 Moderating effect testing
Table 6. Regression result of regulating effect. |
Variables | Innovation |
---|---|
Deg | -20.032*** |
(-4.58) | |
Deg2 | 293.382*** |
(4.38) | |
academic_background | -0.492* |
(-1.75) | |
Deg*academic_background | 53.69*** |
(2.80) | |
Deg2*academic_background | -977.138*** |
(-3.11) | |
Constant | -0.859 |
(-1.09) | |
Control | Yes |
Industry / Year / Region | Yes |
N | 10129 |
Adj.R2 | 0.271 |
Figure 3. Moderating effect plot. |
4.3.2 The impact of academic papers and scientific publications of provincial universities on firm innovation
Table 7. Regression result of papers and Scientific & technical writings. |
Variables | Innovation | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(1) Low | (2) Medium | (3) High | (4) Low | (5) Medium | (6) High | |
papers | -0.007 | 0.315 | 0.616*** | |||
(-0.09) | (1.40) | (2.58) | ||||
Scientific & technical writings | 0.139** | 0.189* | -0.042 | |||
(2.27) | (1.77) | (-0.37) | ||||
Constant | -1.373 | -2.952 | -10.213*** | -1.997 | -.625 | -3.611** |
(-0.84) | (-1.06) | (-3.39) | (-1.39) | (-0.36) | (2.03) | |
Control | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Industry / Year | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
N | 3886 | 3124 | 3119 | 3886 | 3124 | 3119 |
Adj.R2 | 0.203 | 0.262 | 0.269 | 0.205 | 0.263 | 0.265 |
4.3.3 The impact of patent knowledge spillovers from provincial universities on firm innovation
Table 8. Regression result of patent applications and transformations. |
Variables | Innovation | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(1) Low | (2) Medium | (3) High | (4) Low | (5) Medium | (6) High | |
patent_applications | 0.123** | 0.288*** | 0.115 | |||
(2.02) | (3.12) | (1.21) | ||||
patent_transfers | -0.007 | -0.018 | -0.046* | |||
(-0.36) | (-0.78) | (-1.93) | ||||
Constant | -2.323 | -2.058 | -4.735** | -1.377 | 0.298 | -3.568** |
(-1.56) | (-1.13) | (-2.54) | (-0.96) | (0.18) | (-2.10) | |
Control | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Industry / Year | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
N | 3886 | 3124 | 3119 | 3886 | 3124 | 3119 |
Adj.R2 | 0.205 | 0.266 | 0.266 | 0.203 | 0.262 | 0.268 |