How political connections affect entrepreneurial risk-taking in SMEs: A symmetric assessment and a configurational approach

IF 7.1 2区管理学 Q1 Business, Management and Accounting

International Small Business Journal-Researching Entrepreneurship Pub Date : 2022-09-09 DOI:10.1177/02662426221122845

Jing A. Zhang, T. Bai, Conor O’Kane

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引用次数: 2

Abstract

Drawing on resource dependency theory and the resource-absorbing perspective of risk-taking, this article examines how political connections provide firms with opportunities to gain government funding support to enhance financial slack, which can in turn benefit their entrepreneurial risk-taking. We employ both symmetrical (partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM)) and configurational approaches (fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA)) using a sample of 202 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China. Our results from PLS-SEM suggest government financial funding support and financial slack play sequential mediating roles in the relationship between political connections and entrepreneurial risk-taking. The results of fsQCA further highlight the importance of political connections and financial slack as core conditions for entrepreneurial risk-taking and uncover the multiple pathways through which political connections influence entrepreneurial risk-taking. These findings advance our understanding of how entrepreneurial risk-taking in SMEs may require configurations of different resources.

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政治关系如何影响中小企业的创业风险:对称评估和配置方法

本文利用资源依赖理论和风险承担的资源吸收视角，考察了政治关系如何为企业提供获得政府资金支持的机会，从而增强财务松弛，从而有利于企业的风险承担。我们采用对称方法(偏最小二乘结构方程模型(PLS-SEM))和配置方法(模糊集定性比较分析(fsQCA))，以202家中国中小企业为样本。我们的PLS-SEM结果表明，政府财政资金支持和财政宽松在政治联系与创业风险之间的关系中发挥了顺序中介作用。fsQCA的结果进一步强调了政治关系和财务宽松作为创业风险承担的核心条件的重要性，并揭示了政治关系影响创业风险承担的多种途径。这些发现促进了我们对中小企业创业风险如何需要不同资源配置的理解。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

International Small Business Journal-Researching Entrepreneurship Multiple-

CiteScore

10.80

自引率

8.50%

发文量

期刊介绍： The International Small Business Journal (ISBJ) is a leading peer-reviewed journal renowned for publishing high-quality original research papers on small business and entrepreneurship. It prioritizes research-based studies that contribute to theory development, critical understanding, and policy formulation related to small firms. ISBJ papers encompass theoretical, methodological, and empirical studies from various disciplines and perspectives, aiming for research excellence in the field. The journal provides a critical forum for world-class contributions analyzing entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial behavior. This refereed journal is valuable to academics, policymakers, analysts, government and business officials, small business representative bodies, and support agencies seeking to gain insights into the sector, trade, business institutions, and related matters.