R&D Internationalization and Innovation Performance: The Impact of Executives’ Characteristics

Abstract

In the face of increased competition brought on by economic globalization, enterprises in emerging economies represented by China seek advanced knowledge and technological resources overseas to improve their innovation ability and performance and enhance their competitive advantages. Taking listed companies in the Chinese information technology industry from 2009 to 2020 as the research sample, we find that R&D internationalization, executives’ overseas experience, and political connection all significantly improve enterprises’ innovation performance. Further analysis shows that only the executives’ political connection plays a positive moderating role in the process of promoting innovation performance through R&D internationalization, while the executives’ overseas experience does not. This demonstrates that multinational corporations in emerging economies can improve their innovation performance by leveraging the knowledge reserves and technical experience of executives who have studied or worked abroad. Furthermore, by establishing political connections during the R&D internationalization process, the enterprise can obtain the support and information of the home government, thereby enhancing innovation performance.