Formal and Informal Institutions: The Independent and Joint Impacts on Firm Innovation

We study the impact of formal and informal institutions perceived and experienced by firms on their innovation using the 2012 World Bank Enterprise Survey data in China. We propose a framework to identify different innovator types of firms. Our analysis shows that (1) perceived constraints from the governmental system make firms more likely to be innovators than non-innovators; (2) perceived constraints from the legal system make firms more likely to be imitators than innovators; (3) lack of formal finance makes firms more likely to be non-innovators than innovators; (4) prevalence of bribery makes firms more likely to be non-innovators than innovators but less likely to be innovation pretenders than innovators. Our study enriches institutional theory and innovation research by establishing a framework that encompasses multiple dimensions of formal and informal institutions perceived and experienced by firms and the impacts of such perception and experience on firms’ propensity to become certain type of innovator. 本文利用 2012 年世界银行在中国所得的企业调查数据，研究了公司感知和经历的正式与非正式制度对公司创新的影响，由此提出一个用于识别不同的公司创新者类型的框架。本文的分析表明： (1) 感知到来自政府制度的约束后，公司更有可能成为创新者，而不是非创新者；(2) 感知到来自法律制度的约束后，公司更有可能成为效仿者，而不是创新者；(3) 缺乏正规金融体系时，公司更有可能成为非创新者，而不是创新者；(4) 贿赂行为普遍时，公司更有可能成为非创新者，而不是创新者，但相比于成为创新者，其成为假冒创新者的可能性更低。本文建立的理论框架涵盖了公司感知和经历的正式与非正式制度的多个维度，及其如何影响公司的创新者类型，丰富了制度理论和创新研究。