Search results

The relationship between industrial policy and exploratory innovation is imperfect.

The authors use Chinese high-tech enterprise identification policy (HTEP) as a natural experimental group to test policy impacts, spillover effects and mechanisms of action.

First, HTEP promotes exploratory innovation. In addition, HTEP has a greater impact on non-exploratory innovation. Second, HTEP has spillover effects in two phases: HTEP (2008) and the 2016 policy reform. HTEP affects exploratory innovation in nearby non-high-tech firms, and the policy effect decreases monotonically with increasing distance from the treatment group. Third, HTEP affects innovation capacity through financing constraints, technical personnel flow and knowledge flow, which explains not only policy effects but also spillover effects. Fourth, the analysis of policy heterogeneity shows that the 2016 policy reforms reinforce the positive effect of HTEP (2008). By deducting the effects of other policies, the HTEP effect is found to be less volatile. In terms of the continuity of policy identification, continuous uninterrupted identification has a crucial impact on the improvement of firms’ innovation capacity compared to repeated certification and certification expiration. Finally, HTEP has a crowding-out effect in state-owned enterprises and large firms’ innovation.

This paper contributes to the existing literature in several ways. First, the authors enrich the literature on industrial policy through exploratory innovation research. While previous studies have focused on R&D investment and patents (Dai and Wang, 2019), exploratory innovation helps firms break away from the inherent knowledge mindset and achieve sustainable innovation. Second, few studies have explored the characteristics of industrial policies. In this paper, the authors subdivide the sample into repeated certification, continuous certification and certification expiration according to high-tech enterprise identification. In addition, the authors compare the differences in policy implementation effects between the 2016 policy reform and the 2008 policy to provide new directions for business managers and policy makers. Third, innovation factors guided by industrial policies may cluster in specific regions, which in turn manifest externalities. This is when the policy spillover effect is worth considering. This paper fills a gap in the industrial policy literature by examining the spillover effects. Finally, this paper also explores the mechanisms of policy effects from three perspectives: financing constraints, technician mobility and knowledge mobility, which can affect not only the innovation of beneficiary firms directly but also indirectly the innovation of neighboring non-beneficiary firms.

This paper aims to explore the link between transformational leadership and employee creativity through the lens of self-determination theory, with psychological empowerment serving as a mediating factor. Additionally, it will examine how financial rewards and job formalization might moderate this relationship.

The research uses a survey approach, targeting employees and supervisors from government ministries in the United Arab Emirates through purposive sampling. The study collected data from 254 participants via an online questionnaire and analyzed it using the partial least squares structural equation modeling technique in SmartPLS4.

The results show that transformational leadership has a significant impact on the psychological empowerment and creative performance of employees. The relationship between transformative leadership and employee creative performance is mediated by psychological empowerment. Additionally, the moderating effects of financial rewards and job formalization are explored. The findings do not support the moderating role of job formalization, and financial rewards negatively moderate the transformational leadership–psychological empowerment relationship.

The research is centered on a particular cultural setting and government ministry employees, thus limiting the generalizability.

This study explores at how transformational leadership affects employee creativity, considering the role of psychological empowerment and how financial rewards and job structure might influence this relationship.