技术创新网络中组织间依赖的影响因素及形成研究

Influencing Factors and Formation of the Interorganizational Dependence in Innovation Networks

技术创新网络是组织间依赖关系的集合。由于资源依赖理论的深远影响,组织间依赖长期以来被等同于资源依赖,忽视了对其他依赖的研究及实证检验,无法真实刻画组织间复杂互依的状态。本文从多网络层次、多理论视角出发,采用结构方程模型,研究了技术创新网络中组织间依赖的影响因素和形成,发现:源于资源依赖的知识依赖是组织间依赖的基础,但组织间关系重要性和组织的网络地位重要性也会显著影响组织间依赖的形成;网络成员要对组织间依赖多维度的综合性有所认识,才能避免在组织间依赖上过度的敏感性和脆弱性,建立既充满活力又相对稳定的组织间关系。

Because of the profound influence of resource dependence theory, inter-organizational dependence has been considered to be the same as resource dependence by the current literature, with few studies exploring other origins and dimensions. Although some studies examine inter-organizational dependences beyond the view of resource dependence, they are scattered and unsystematic, and do not provide a comprehensive analysis perspective with empirical data. The perception of dependence is critical to the study of inter-organizational relations, especially to the innovation network which is described as a loosely coupled system and an aggregate of interorganizational relations. Thus, an empirical study on the influencing factors and formation of interorganizational dependence is necessary to provide a sound groundwork for further investigations on interorganizational relations in innovation networks. By adopting a multi-level analysis and multiple theoretic views, this paper firstly analyzes the influencing factors of interorganizational dependence according to the levels of dependence sources. Based on the literature and by combining the multi-level feature of innovation networks, three kinds of impacting factors are identified. In terms of network levels, a popular way is to divide the network into three levels： actor level, dyadic level and network level. Correspondingly, the impacting factors are categorized into three dimensions： organizational knowledge importance at the actor level, interorganizational relational importance at the dyadic level, and organizations＇ network-position importance at the network level. In addition, this paper combines the key role of knowledge in innovation networks and the mainstream viewpoint that knowledge resources is the fundamental factor affecting inter-organizational dependence. Moreover, this paper analyzes the impacts of the multi-level influencing factors on interorganizational dependence with emphasis on the dominant role of organizational knowledge. This empirical study has a few major findings. The above-mentioned three dimensions can thoroughly cover the influencing factors of inter-organizational dependence in the literature. Organizational knowledge contributes to the most of inter-organizational dependence, which conforms to the traditional view of resource dependence perspective. Although organizational knowledge plays a dominant role in the formation of interorganizational dependence, it is not the only influencing factor. Inter-organizational dependence in innovation networks is also impacted by relational importance and organizations＇ network position. Based on the level from which influencing factors derive, interorganizational dependence can be divided into three dimensions： knowledge dependence, relational dependence and structural dependence. Knowledge dependence reflects the knowledge interactions between organizations. Because of the relative fast-changing and flowing feature of knowledge, knowledge dependence results in the loose part in inter-organization relations. Relational and structural dependences represent social interactions between organizations. Because of their inertia effects, they lead to the coupled part in inter-organization relations. The paper combines and systematizes the previous studies on influencing factors of interorganizational dependence in the context of innovation networks. In addition, a comprehensive picture of these impacting factors beyond the resource dependence perspective is presented. Furthermore, this paper analyzes the inter-impact of these factors, explores the formation mechanism of interorganizational dependence in innovation networks, and empirically tests the proposed hypotheses. This paper contributes to the first systemic and empirical study on the influencing factors and the formation of interorganizational dependence in innovation networks. Findings of this study provide a comprehensive description of the complex inter-depending situation, as well as significant hints for network players to achieve and maintain dependence advantages and establish healthy interorganizational relations.