创始人身份对科创企业创新绩效的作用机制研究

A study of the influence mechanism of founder identity on the innovation performance of science and technology enterprises

“十四五”时期是中国跻身创新型国家前列的关键时期,科创企业作为国家技术创新的一大主力,与其相关的创新活动始终是研究的热点。基于2019—2021年中国科创板申报企业数据,采用文本分析的方法重新建构创始人身份类型,实证分析创始人身份异质性对科创企业创新绩效的影响及其渠道机制。研究发现,相较于非学术型创始人,学术型创始人所在的公司将表现出更优的创新绩效。具体而言:在其他条件不变的情况下,科创企业创新绩效的表现呈现学术型创始人>技术型创始人>商业型创始人;企业创新投资在学术型创始人身份与企业创新绩效的影响中发挥部分中介作用;创始人两职合一和VC/PE支持加强了学术型创始人对创新投资的正向关系;创始人海外背景和两职合一正向调节企业创新投资与创新绩效的影响。研究结论为企业创始人加快企业创新发展步伐、减少创始人在决策时因个性特质所造成的治理偏差提供了新的指引。

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China aims to become a leading innovation-driven country. As one of the main driving forces behind the country′s technological innovation, science and technology(S&T) entrepreneurs and their related innovation activities have always been a hot topic. In the existing literature, scholars have conducted extensive research on the relationship between founders and firm innovation performance. However, there is a scarcity of literature focusing on the impact of different founder identities on innovation performance, as well as a lack of in-depth analysis and examination of their underlying mechanisms. Currently, the literature exploring the influence of founders on organizational behavior from an identity perspective primarily emphasizes the impact of explicit personal characteristics and behaviors of entrepreneurial managers on firm innovation performance, while neglecting the fact that founder identity heterogeneity also affects firm decision-making.Therefore, this study aims to address the gap by discussing whether different founder identities influence their decisions regarding innovation investment, as well as the underlying mechanisms through which founder identity heterogeneity affects firm innovation performance.This study used the text analysis method to reconstruct the identity types of founders based on the data from Chinese S&T board-listed companies from 2019 to 2021, and empirically analyzed the impact and mechanisms of founder identity heterogeneity on the innovation performance in S&T enterprises. It was found that compared to non-academic founders, companies with academic founders exhibit superior innovation performance. Specifically, the innovation performance of S&T enterprises is in the order of academic founders > technical founders > business founders. Corporate innovation investment partially mediates the relationship between academic founder identity and innovation performance. Founder duality and VC/PE support strengthen the positive relationship between academic founders and innovation investment. Additionally, founder overseas background and founder duality positively moderates the impact of firm′s innovation investment and innovation performance. This paper has the following contributions. Firstly, it expanded the research perspective on firm innovation performance. The paper validated the differential performance of innovation based on distinct founder identities and recognized the founder′s academic background in the development of firm innovation. Secondly, it enriched the literature on entrepreneur identity. Starting from identity theory, the paper categorized founder identity into three types: academic, technical, and business, and explained the relationship between founder identity heterogeneity and firm innovation performance. Thirdly, it clarified the mediating effect of innovation investment in the relationship between academic founder and innovation performance, and opened up the black box of how founder identity influences innovation performance. These findings will offer valuable insights for S&T founders aiming to accelerate enterprise innovation and mitigate governance biases arising from the founder′s personality traits. Specifically, companies should meticulously select individuals with academic backgrounds or relevant professional knowledge, aligning their skills with the required positions within the top management team. This optimization of the executive team structure will contribute to effective corporate management and decision-making in innovation. Furthermore, founders should prioritize and reinforce their commitment to R&D, create an atmosphere conducive to innovation, and increase investment in original technology exploration. Academic founders should actively cultivate their identification with the entrepreneurial role, whereas business founders and technical founders should transcend short-sightedness by focusing on long-term outcomes. In terms of external considerations, introducing appropriate venture capital and private equity can give financial certainty for corporate growth. Leveraging social capital to promote S&T innovation allows companies to fully realize social capital′s supportive function, hence enhancing the company′s innovation performance.