Research PolicyPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-11-21DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2025.105376
Marco Bade , Felix Reichenbach
{"title":"Entrepreneurial narratives, digital community discussion, and crowdfunding success","authors":"Marco Bade , Felix Reichenbach","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2025.105376","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2025.105376","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines how entrepreneurial narratives are related to crowdfunding success, both directly and indirectly, through community discussion. It draws on the Expectation Confirmation Model (ECM) to conceptualize community discussion as a potential mediator. Using a dataset of 26,996 Indiegogo campaigns and more than 3000 Reddit posts and comments, we apply structural equation modeling and sentiment analysis. We find that the intensity of entrepreneurial narratives, measured by description length and update frequency, is positively associated with both crowdfunding success and community discussion activity. However, community discussion activity, particularly when driven by promotion posts or emerging late in the campaign, is associated with reduced crowdfunding success. These findings highlight the double-edged nature of digital visibility and extend the ECM to capture cross-platform, socially distributed feedback effects. We derive practical guidance for entrepreneurs to strategically time and tailor their communication to avoid backlash and maximize crowdfunding success.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":"55 2","pages":"Article 105376"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145580231","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research PolicyPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-11-27DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2025.105378
Jessica Coria , Jūratė Jaraitė
{"title":"Innovation under dual policies: The impact of R&D subsidies and emissions trading on green patenting in Sweden","authors":"Jessica Coria , Jūratė Jaraitė","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2025.105378","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2025.105378","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper examines whether the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) and innovation subsidies interact to enhance green innovation at the firm level. Using staggered difference-in-differences and matched samples, we find no evidence of synergetic effects: firms subject to both the EU ETS and innovation subsidies do not outperform those subject only to subsidies in terms of green patenting outcomes. By contrast, subsidies alone have a clear positive impact on green innovation. Firms receiving subsidies generate more green patents, receive more citations, and develop technologies with greater technical scope, especially when subsidy amounts are large. These findings imply that, while environmental policies like the EU ETS might create demand for green innovation, substantial subsidy support is essential to overcome market failures and promote the development and patenting of green technologies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":"55 2","pages":"Article 105378"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145624194","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research PolicyPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-11-28DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2025.105379
Qianqian Jin , Hongshu Chen , Xuefeng Wang , Jia Liu
{"title":"Do synthesis programs facilitate interdisciplinary research? Evidence from the NSFC’s Major Research Plan","authors":"Qianqian Jin , Hongshu Chen , Xuefeng Wang , Jia Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2025.105379","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2025.105379","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Synthesis programs, designed to address critical scientific challenges through interdisciplinary solutions, have garnered substantial attention from funding agencies. This study quantitatively evaluates the detailed impact of synthesis programs on promoting these interdisciplinary solutions, using data drawn from the Major Research Plan (MRP) instituted by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). We measure and compare the interdisciplinarity in knowledge absorption and integration of articles funded by the MRP with that of articles published in the same journal and year without synthesis intervention, as well as those supported by the NSFC’s General Program. Key dimensions of interdisciplinarity, encompassing variety, balance, and disparity, along with their aggregation, are measured using article references and, more importantly, the main content of these articles. Findings indicate that synthesis programs have fostered interdisciplinary research, but their effects on bolstering knowledge absorption and integration differ. These initiatives motivate researchers to absorb more disparate knowledge from a wider range of disciplines and pave the way for a more balanced integration of dissimilar knowledge. Our findings support the implementation of synthesis programs as a catalyst to accelerate the integration of knowledge across disciplines and domains, and offer insights for funding agencies, expert groups, and researchers engaged in the design, execution, and assessment of such programs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":"55 2","pages":"Article 105379"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145624195","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research PolicyPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-11-19DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2025.105369
Ulrich Elmer Hansen , Ivan Nygaard , Yohanes Berenika Kadarusman
{"title":"Green industrial policy and latecomer catch-up: A missed green window of opportunity for domestic solar PV module manufacturers in Indonesia","authors":"Ulrich Elmer Hansen , Ivan Nygaard , Yohanes Berenika Kadarusman","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2025.105369","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2025.105369","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The notion of green industrial policy (GIP) has gained attention recently in order to conceptualize the relationship between the transition to green technologies and the development of domestic manufacturers of such technologies. In this paper, we contribute to advancing the literature on GIP by presenting a conceptual framework on GIP in the context of latecomer catch-up of domestic firms in developing countries. The framework combines insights from the development studies literature on industrial policies, policy mixes in sustainability transition studies and the literature on firm-level catch-up. We apply the framework to study how industrial policies and energy policies have interacted and influenced the initial entry and early-stage catch-up of domestic solar PV module manufacturers in Indonesia in the period 2008–2023. Empirically, we draw on semi-structured interviews with representatives of domestic solar PV module manufacturers, industry informants and relevant government agencies. Based on the conceptual framework, we identify the inhibiting and encouraging factors influencing firm-level catch-up trajectories within three distinctive phases. We find that, while the catch-up trajectory of domestic solar PV module manufacturers resembled a path toward coexistence during the first and second phases, the third phase involved an aborted catch-up trajectory. However, a new catch-up trajectory toward coexistence may be emerging in relation to the recent establishment of export-oriented solar PV module production. Conceptually, the paper contributes to advancing the literature on GIPs by adopting a firm-oriented perspective and by seeking closer integration with research in development studies on the catching-up of latecomer firms.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":"55 2","pages":"Article 105369"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145546711","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research PolicyPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-12-29DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2025.105394
Gesa Pflitsch , Max-Peter Menzel
{"title":"Rethinking the Third Mission: Organizing dissonance in transformative universities","authors":"Gesa Pflitsch , Max-Peter Menzel","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2025.105394","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2025.105394","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Universities increasingly engage in sustainability transitions through Third Mission (TM) activities that confront “wicked” problems and conflicting value systems. In this paper, we develop a conceptual framework that explains how TM contributes to transformative change by placing value collisions at its analytical core. Drawing on Convention Theory, we distinguish two knowledge processes: equivalence-oriented processes that seek efficiency and alignment, and dissonance-oriented processes that deliberately engage divergent values. Crucially, we conceptualize dissonance not as a barrier but as a generative driver of transformation, making its organization a core task of transformative TM. Using this perspective, we assess which organizational forms and governance arrangements enable transformation by sustaining dissonance, identifying heterarchy and an intermediate space between academia and society as central. This delineation sets transformative universities apart from other models and yields far-reaching implications for TM-related policy mixes and impact assessment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":"55 2","pages":"Article 105394"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145883536","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research PolicyPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2026-01-05DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2025.105405
Erez Maggor , Erez Aharon Marantz
{"title":"Growing up but staying home: Patient equity investors and firm scale-up","authors":"Erez Maggor , Erez Aharon Marantz","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2025.105405","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2025.105405","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Sustained and inclusive economic development is the product of mature firms, commonly referred to as scale-ups. While some studies suggest equity investors enable firm growth, others argue equity-backed startups are more likely to be acquired or relocate to more developed regions. To address this ambiguity, we examine the Israeli high-tech sector, where a growing number of startups are scaling up locally. Building on existing literature and exploratory interviews with industry members, we focus on how investors' business strategies and founders' characteristics shape startups' ability to scale up locally. We argue that local scale-up is most likely in cases where equity funds act as patient capital and invest in startups founded by experienced entrepreneurs or founders who are highly embedded within the local eco-system. Exponential competing risk models of the growth outcomes of 5689 Israeli high-tech firms established between 2005 and 2020 largely confirm our claims. We discuss how our results inform understanding of equity investors' impact on scale-up and public policies that can support more inclusive innovation ecosystems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":"55 2","pages":"Article 105405"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145938469","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research PolicyPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-12-31DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2025.105408
Muthu De Silva , Federica Rossi , Caroline Paunov
{"title":"Managing multi-stakeholder co-creation to address grand challenges: The role of paradox management capabilities","authors":"Muthu De Silva , Federica Rossi , Caroline Paunov","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2025.105408","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2025.105408","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Addressing Grand Challenges such as disruptive sustainability require transformative innovations and policy frameworks that enable coordinated, systemic, multi-stakeholder co-creation. Yet, we have limited understanding of the capabilities needed to manage the paradoxical tensions that arise in multi-stakeholder co-creation networks. We make an original contribution by using an evidence base composed of 30 co-creation initiatives from 21 countries and 3 transnational initiatives, developed to address challenges relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, a Grand Challenge characterized, exactly like disruptive sustainability, by large scale, complexity, and uncertainty. Our findings advance paradox theory by articulating six higher-order paradox-management capabilities needed to manage paradoxes relating to two levels of transformative innovation, project co-creation and programme co-creation. For each of these higher-order capabilities, we identify more specific routine capabilities that allow partners to manage these paradoxes to achieve swift and successful co-creation for disruptive sustainability. We provide implications for policy and practice.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":"55 2","pages":"Article 105408"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145883537","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research PolicyPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-12-17DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2025.105396
Jun Hou
{"title":"The survival effects of non-R&D induced innovation during crisis","authors":"Jun Hou","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2025.105396","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2025.105396","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Using firm-level data from 41 countries, this study investigates how resource-constrained firms can strengthen their resilience to resist the COVID-19 crisis through non-R&D induced innovation. The empirical results show that firms in Middle- and Low-income countries, where access to government aid is often constrained, can enhance their survival prospects by internally upgrading their learning and adaptive capabilities. Specifically, non-R&D induced innovation can effectively substitute for insufficient government financial support by enabling firms to adjust operations and maintain competitiveness during the Covid-19 pandemic. The findings emphasise the importance of jointly considering government support and innovation in firm survival analyses, as omitting either factor may introduce potential omitted variable bias. To address this, supervised learning approaches are employed to predict whether firms that exited had received government support prior to closure. In addition, this study advances the literature by uncovering the complementary roles of innovation and government financial interventions, and highlights context-specific strategies that policymakers should adopt to improve firm resilience amid external shocks.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":"55 2","pages":"Article 105396"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145796612","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research PolicyPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-12-20DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2025.105393
Paul Hünermund , Cindy Lopes-Bento , Maikel Pellens
{"title":"The effect of publicly co-funded industry-science collaboration on scientific production","authors":"Paul Hünermund , Cindy Lopes-Bento , Maikel Pellens","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2025.105393","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2025.105393","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Competitive industry-science collaboration programs encourage academic scientists to co-develop innovation projects with firms. These programs combine attributes of competitive research funding and science commercialization policies. Because they demand more time and effort than traditional science funding, and may push applicants toward projects with higher commercial potential, the question arises whether they come at the expense of scientific productivity or alter the direction of research. Using data from a large-scale, cross-country R&D policy, we find no evidence of negative impacts on science. On the contrary, our analysis shows an increase in joint scientific publications with industrial partners, while the overall direction of research remains unchanged.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":"55 2","pages":"Article 105393"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145840249","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"European regions transitioning to green markets: the role of related capabilities and public procurement policies","authors":"Carolina Castaldi , Milad Abbasiharofteh , Sergio Petralia","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2025.105374","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2025.105374","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The sustainability transition remains high on the European policy agenda, with an emerging understanding that focusing on green technologies is not enough to achieve disruptive sustainability. An overall green transformation of current systems of production and consumption also requires market formation processes whereby green markets become viable economic opportunities for regions to specialize in. In this study, we draw on insights from evolutionary economic geography and geography of transitions to understand how regions develop green market specializations.</div><div>To do so, we investigate two key sets of factors. First, we consider the evolutionary capability development process whereby new specializations emerge from existing related regional capabilities, in a path-dependent way. Second, we account for green public procurement initiatives to capture path-creation efforts in the form of deliberate regional policy directed towards green market formation.</div><div>Our empirical analysis focuses on European regions in the period 2000–2020. We employ original trademark-based metrics to capture regional specializations in green markets and combine them with patent data to construct relatedness linkages between technologies and markets. Our results reveal that only a few regions were able to develop specializations in green markets. We find that both prior capabilities in related technological domains and markets were positively associated with the emergence of these regional specializations. In addition, we also find that green public procurement was positively associated with the emergence of regional green market specializations. Our findings bear relevance for policy and research alike.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":"55 2","pages":"Article 105374"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145624197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}