Bribery, female-led start-ups and product innovation performance in transition economies: the moderating roles of institutional support and self-control
ISSN: 0025-1747
Article publication date: 5 May 2023
Issue publication date: 5 September 2024
Abstract
Purpose
Given that women around the world face more exclusion in terms of limited access to economic and innovation activities than men do, it is understandable that some female-led start-ups in weak institutional environments engage in bribery to help reduce the difficulties they encounter in the face of intense business competition. However, the link between bribery and product innovation performance is unclear. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between bribery and product innovation performance for female-led start-ups, as well as the roles of institutional support and self-control in this link.
Design/methodology/approach
This empirical study evaluates survey data from female-led manufacturing start-ups in China's Yangtze River Delta region to investigate the relationship between bribery and product innovation performance.
Findings
This research shows that bribery has an inverted U-shaped impact on product innovation performance in female-led manufacturing start-ups, meaning that the product innovation performance of these firms initially increases but then decreases as the bribery intensity (i.e. the frequency and amount of bribes) increases. The authors also focus on the roles of institutional support and self-control in this link, where the authors find that this relationship is steeper for firms with strong institutional support, as well as for individual female entrepreneurs who have high levels of self-control.
Practical implications
The findings of this study indicate that policymakers should undertake efforts to improve institutional quality (e.g. increasing clarity around decisions, providing more institutional support, etc.) and to guide female entrepreneurs to cultivate higher levels of self-control, as such efforts would reduce the appeal of, and the opportunity for, bribery.
Originality/value
To date, very few studies focus specifically on female-led enterprises in the field of bribery research. The research findings presented here on the effect of bribery in female-led start-ups on firm product innovation performance are useful to researchers, policymakers and businesspeople, as they provide a better understanding of bribery in female-led start-ups in China, which can also be extrapolated to encompass other transition economy contexts.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant number: 71772118), and Major Program of National Fund of Philosophy and Social Science of China (Grant number: 20&ZD059).
Expression of concern: The publisher of Management Decision is issuing an Expression of Concern for the following article Wu, Y., Xie, X., Lassala, C. and Ribeiro-Navarrete, S. (2023), “Bribery, female-led start-ups and product innovation performance in transition economies: the moderating roles of institutional support and self-control”, Management Decision, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-12-2022-1719, which was submitted to the guest-edited special issue ‘Navigating the role of circular economy in entrepreneurship: Opportunities and challenges’. An investigation by the publisher found a number of articles with multiple concerns, including but not limited to compromised editorial handling and reviewing, undisclosed conflicts of interest, and lack of suitability for the scope of the journal. As a result of these concerns and as trust in the content is central to the integrity of the publication process, the Editor-in-Chief and publisher have taken the decision to publish an Expression of Concern for all articles within this special issue. The journal has not been able to confirm whether the authors were aware of these concerns. The authors of this article would like to note that they do not agree with the content of this notice. An investigation is ongoing and is currently unresolved. Further information will be provided by Management Decision as it becomes available.
Citation
Wu, Y., Xie, X., Lassala, C. and Ribeiro-Navarrete, S. (2024), "Bribery, female-led start-ups and product innovation performance in transition economies: the moderating roles of institutional support and self-control", Management Decision, Vol. 62 No. 9, pp. 2666-2689. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-12-2022-1719
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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