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The purpose of this paper is to explore that relational capability plays a mediator role in the relationship between focal enterprises' control on knowledge transfer risks in R&D network.

The paper reviews the related literature from which it proposes a theoretical hypothesis and conceptual framework which is tested empirically adopting regression methodology by mathematical statistics software.

The results reveal that focal enterprises' control (core technological capability and network position) have a positive effect on knowledge transfer risks without the mediation of relational capability. Moreover, relational capability mediates the positive relationship between core technological capability and knowledge transfer risks.

The cross-sectional data of this research has difficult in testing causality between the variables, and future research should take account of the potential factors that can impact on knowledge transfer risks.

The results provide more valuable information to managers in alleviating knowledge transfer risks in R&D networks. For one thing, the study indicates how focal firms' control (core technological capability and network position) can be taken advantage of improving R&D efficiency and reducing the knowledge transfer risks. For another, the results emphasize that relational capability plays an important role in interacting with cooperative enterprises in the process of R&D activities.

Few studies present a theoretical discussion on focal firms control as the important determinants of knowledge transfer risks especially in the R&D network. Moreover it expands the related risk management theory by relational capability that mediates the relationship between focal firms control and knowledge transfer risks.

Previous research has analyzed the consequence of network stability; however, little is known about how partner type diversity influence network stability in R&D network. Based on knowledge-based view and social network theory, the purpose of this paper is to unravel the internal mechanisms between partner type diversity and network stability through the mediating role of knowledge recombination in R&D network.

The authors collected an unbalanced panel patent data set from information communication technology industry for the period 1994–2016. Then, the authors tested the different dimensions of partner type variety and its relevance in the R&D network and the mediating role of knowledge recombination through adopting the multiple linear regression.

Results indicate an inverted U-shaped relationship between partner type diversity (variety and relevance) and network stability, whereas knowledge recombination partially mediate these relationships.

From the perspective of R&D networks, this paper explores that there are the under-researched phenomena the antecedent of network stability through nodal attributes (i.e. partner type variety and partner type relevance). Moreover, this paper empirically examined the mediating role of knowledge recombination in the partner type diversity–network stability relationships. The novel perspective allows focal firm to recognize importance of nodal attributes, which are critical to fully excavate the potential capabilities of cooperating partners in R&D network.

The purpose of this paper is to study the influence mechanism of different levels of social capital (Structure holes–local network attributes and indirect ties–global network attributes) and organizational culture on the creativity of key inventors, and the role of organizational culture between social capital and creativity.

The paper tested the hypotheses with a sample of patent data accumulated from 46 firms in Chinese electronic information and automobile sectors. Negative binomial regression was used to explore the factors influencing the creativity of key inventors.

The paper discovers that structural holes are valuable social capital for the creativity of key inventors and very important in firms with a collective and conservative culture. Moreover, it also locates that key inventor are more creative in firms with an individualistic and competitive culture than those in firms with a collective and conservative culture.

This study emphasizes the influence of social capital on creativity and contributes to R&D management. It highlights structural holes are certainly important to key inventors in a collective and conservative culture, thus contradicting preceding studies that locate structural holes useful solely in an individualistic culture. This finding broadens our knowledge of the benefits of this network structure. Also, this debate challenges several basic views on structural holes currently.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of two dimensions of relational risks, namely, opportunism behavior and interest conflict, on knowledge flow and to explore the moderating effect of network power among these untested relationships and to examine the positive effect of opportunism behavior and interest conflict.

This paper adopts survey data collected from 180 enterprises in China's high-technology industry and examines the relationship between relational risks, network power and knowledge flow.

This research empirically shows that opportunism behavior and interest conflict significantly and negatively impact on knowledge flow. Those relationships are positively moderated by network power.

To be more generalized to the high-technology industry, future research should adopt the quantitative research, which can obtain more comprehensive information to explore the nature of phenomenon. The future research can also combine with other variables. In addition, this research extends the current literature by investigating the relationship of so far understudied theorized antecedents.

This research enriches the related network perspective literature by providing new insight combining relational risks and knowledge flow. Especially, the moderating effect of network power is empirically examined.

The purpose of this study is to examine how the quality management of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) impacts their supply chain financing performance (SCFP). This study also investigates the mediating roles of organisational dependence between quality management and the SCFP of SMEs, as well as the moderating role of environmental dynamics.

Questionnaires were administered to 248 financial managers responsible for supply chain finance (SCF) in SMEs in China. Data analysis techniques used include necessary condition analysis and multiple regression analysis.

Research findings show that, in SCF, the quality management of SMEs positively predicts their SCFP through the mediation of the organisational dependence of the focal enterprises in the supply chain network. Environmental dynamics are also found to moderate the relationship between quality management and SCFP through the organisational dependence of capital providers.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to explore the relationships between SMEs' quality management and their SCFP. Also, this study provides a new theoretical lens through which to study SCF by introducing signalling theory.

Innovation quality is a critical component of enterprise innovation. Prior research primarily focuses on company-level and external policy-level factors that affect innovation quality, while ignoring social-level factors. Based on institutional isomorphism theory, this study examines how the innovation quality of three-dimensional institutional equivalence, which is an important and unique reference group for firms to follow the “law of imitation of close preference”, affects the likelihood of firms' innovation quality.

This study conducts firm random effects and industry/year fixed effects models using China's listed companies from 2002 to 2021.

This study finds that compared with the innovation quality of its other industry, community, or network peers, the innovation quality of three-dimensional institutional equivalence has a greater impact on firm innovation quality. Furthermore, technological intensity significantly increases the effect of three-dimensional institutional equivalence on focal company innovation quality, while financing constraints significantly attenuate this effect. Additionally, when there is no institutional equivalent, the innovation quality of network, industry, and community peers has significant positive effects on enterprise innovation quality. Heterogeneity analysis also indicates that, under the conditions of non-state-owned enterprises, a low regional legal environment, or low regional factor market development, three-dimensional institutional equivalence contributes significantly to firm innovation quality.

This study focuses on the effect of three-dimensional institutional equivalence on Chinese enterprises' innovation quality. Nonetheless, research samples from other countries are not considered in this study.

This study explores the impact of three-dimensional institutional equivalence on firm innovation quality within a systematic theoretical framework and incorporates firm attributes into this framework.

This paper aims to examine the effect of external supply chain (SC) flexibility on the product innovation performance of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the contingent role of informal control mechanisms in moderating such an effect.

This study conducts a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 236 UK-based SME manufacturers.

Inbound supplier flexibility (ISF) has a stronger positive effect on SMEs’ product innovation performance than outbound logistics flexibility (OLF), and that the strength and direction of both effects depend on informal control mechanisms. Lead supplier influence negatively moderates the relationship between ISF and product innovation performance but positively moderates the relationship between OLF and product innovation performance. Normative integration positively moderates the relationship between ISF and product innovation performance.

This study enriches SC flexibility studies by focusing on understanding the differential effects of ISF and OLF on product innovation performance, as well as the role that contingency factors play in these relationships in the SME context.

To promote product innovation performance, SME managers should focus on building good relationships with their suppliers rather than their logistics service providers. SME managers should be particularly aware of the different types of informal control mechanisms that govern their SC relationships and adjust their managerial approaches accordingly.

This study distinguishes between ISF and OLF and examines their impacts on SMEs’ product innovation performance. This study investigates the differential effects of lead supplier influence and normative integration on the relationship between external SC flexibility and SMEs’ product innovation performance.

As has been pointed out throughout this edition the whole concept of financial control in the literature has been treated in rather a narrow, confused way. The purpose of this present article is not to repeat these arguments but rather to highlight a major omission in the literature and this edition — the whole idea of what could be called “external” financial control.

This paper illustrates the socio-political nature of accountings, referring to the partial privatisation of the monopoly telecommunications organisation in a lower-middle-income country.

Actor-network theory and an ANTi-history approach are used to trace circumstances and occurrences. Empirical materials include official documents, print media and retrospective interviews with organisation employees ten years on from the privatisation.

Proponents of privatisation used retrospectively constructed historical accounts to problematise the natural monopoly of telecommunications and the government organisation administering it. A restructuring programme followed. Proponents addressed controversies pertaining to the programme thus garnering widespread support for complex and controversial changes. Proponents produced and reproduced accounting artefacts as evidence in these processes of history reconstruction, consequent changes and restoring stability to telecommunications in its reconfigured commercial domain. The proponents used selective, controversial accounting evidence to problematise the government organisation's existence, then to mobilise various actors to reduce and close the controversies previously aroused and reinstate stability in a partially privatised telecommunications company. Although no longer having a monopoly this company still dominates. Dissenters did the same but with little success.

The findings demonstrate the importance of tracing the socio-political process of arriving at the dominant outcome about the past. This assists in making sense of present circumstances and re-imagining the future.

The study demonstrates that, during controversial circumstances, taken-for-granted history, as well as what is thought to have not existed in the past, support the dominant network in gaining advantage over their opponents and black-boxing their perspectives of how things should be.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence mechanisms of multi-level ecological participants on technological innovation capabilities within the focal small and mid-size enterprises' (SME) innovation ecosystem. The author examines the moderating role of the innovation ecological environment.

With the lenses of innovation ecosystem theory, technological innovation theory and ecological theory, the author constructs and empirically tests a conceptual framework for exploring the effects of the focal SME's connections with universities and research institutions, and the industrial chain and ecosphere on their independent and collaborative innovation capabilities. The innovation ecological environment is employed as a moderating variable in the proposed model. The author issued email questionnaires to managers at innovative SMEs in Shenzhen, Shanghai and Jiangsu provinces. The data were used for multiple regression analyses to test the hypotheses.

As predicted, the author found that SMEs’ cooperation with universities and research institutions positively affects independent and collaborative innovation capability. The relationships between the industrial chain, the ecosphere and independent and collaborative innovation capabilities are all inverted U-shaped. Additionally, the author demonstrates that the innovation ecological environment positively moderates relationships between the focal SME's ecological participants and these two types of technological innovation capabilities.

The results enrich research on innovation ecosystems and technological innovation capability and provide important managerial implications for Chinese SMEs to enhance their technological innovation capability by constructing and coordinating innovation ecosystems. It also allows China, as well as other developing countries, to cultivate world-class enterprises as an innovative nation.