Digital Economy's influence on R&D Network configurations: Integrating resource dependence theory and institutional theory

Abstract

This study addresses the transformative impacts of the digital economy, which forges connections throughout Research & Development (R&D) networks, prompting leaders of forward-thinking organizations to predict market shifts, guided by the frameworks of institutional theory and resource dependence theory. Institutional theory highlights the pressures, both coercive and normative, arising from the digital economy and regulatory environments, whereas resource dependence theory elucidates the strategic approaches organizations adopt to acquire vital resources and minimize network dependencies. This innovative research investigates how an organization's orientation towards the digital economy affects its role within R&D networks, leveraging insights from both theoretical standpoints. By pinpointing technology transformation and legal environment as key moderators, this study assesses their moderating effects. The analysis utilizes a comprehensive dataset containing 141,118 patents spanning from 1995 to 2018, concentrating on R&D efforts within China's strategic emerging sectors. The outcomes show that an organization's digital economy orientation, shaped by institutional norms and resource interdependencies, positively influences its network centrality but negatively impacts its structural hole position. Additionally, technology transformation and the legal environment, as institutional mechanisms, negatively modulate the relationship between digital economy orientation and network centrality, but positively influence the structural hole relationship. The study concludes with a bibliometric analysis to situate our findings within existing literature and discusses the theoretical and practical implications, rooted in institutional and resource dependence theories.