Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T20:38:49.779Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Phillip Phan ,
Jing Zhou  and
Eric Abrahamson
Phillip Phan
Affiliation:
Johns Hopkins University, USA
Jing Zhou
Affiliation:
Rice University, USA
Eric Abrahamson
Affiliation:
Columbia University, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

As the largest and fastest growing transition economy in the world, China's entrance onto the global stage has been swift and dramatic. As such, almost every facet of entrepreneurship, from the identification of nascent opportunities to the challenges of managing triple-digit growth to the transformation of firms from dying to emerging industries, can be studied as natural experiments. The four papers in this issue are dedicated to exploring entrepreneurial innovation in the Chinese private economy. They include two clinical studies, one on the impact of the Beijing Olympics on entrepreneurship, and the other on the co-evolution of guanxi networks and entrepreneurial growth. Two studies test theories explaining the organizational drivers of innovation and entrepreneurship. In the best traditions, these four studies offer theoretical insights on the broader implications of entrepreneurship research in the Chinese context. We locate the findings offered by these four papers in the systems, organizational and social contexts of creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship research. Finally, we offer some suggestions for future research and ways in which advances in the theoretical conversation should proceed.

Keywords

creativityentrepreneurshipguanxiinnovationmega-event创造力创业关系创新大型事件
Type
From the Guest Editors
Information
Management and Organization Review , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , July 2010 , pp. 175 - 194
Copyright
Copyright © International Association for Chinese Management Research 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Acs, Z. J., & Dana, L. P. 2001. Contrasting two models of wealth redistribution. Small Business Economics, 16(2): 63–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amabile, T. M. 1988. A model of creativity and innovation in organizations. In Staw, B. M. & Cummings, L. L. (Eds.), Research in organizational behaviour: 123–167. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.Google Scholar
Amabile, T. M. 1997. Entrepreneurial creativity through motivational synergy. Journal of Creative Behavior, 31(1): 18–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, N., De Dreu, C. K. W., & Nijstad, B. A. 2004. The routinization of innovation research: A constructively critical review of the state-of-the-science. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25: 147–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Au, K., & Kwan, H. 2009. Start-up capital and Chinese entrepreneurs: The role of family. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 33(4): 889–908.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barney, J. B., & Zhang, S. 2009. The future of Chinese management research: A theory of Chinese management versus a Chinese theory of management. Management and Organization Review, 5(1): 15–28.Google Scholar
Baron, R. A. 2000. Psychological perspectives on entrepreneurship: Cognitive and social factors in entrepreneurs' success. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9(1): 15–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baron, R., & Tang, J. 2009. Entrepreneurs' social skills and new venture performance: Mediating mechanisms and cultural generality. Journal of Management, 35(2): 282–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batjargal, B. 2007a. Network triads: Transitivity, referral and venture capital decisions in China and Russia. Journal of International Business Studies, 38(6): 998–1012.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batjargal, B. 2007b. Comparative social capital: Networks of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists in China and Russia. Management and Organization Review, 3(3): 397–419.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batjargal, B. 2007c. Internet entrepreneurship: Social capital, human capital, and performance of internet ventures in China. Research Policy, 36(5): 605–618.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baumol, W. J. 1990. Entrepreneurship: Productive, unproductive, and destructive. Journal of Political Economy, 98(5): 893–921.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carpenter, M., Bauer, T., & Erdogan, B. 2009. Principles of management. Nyack, NY: Flat World Knowledge.Google Scholar
Carroll, G., & Mosakowski, E. 1987. The career dynamics of self-employment. Administrative Science Quarterly, 32(4): 570–589.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Central Committee of the People's Republic of China. 2001. The 10th Five-Year Plan (2001–2005). [Cited 10 May 2010.] Available from URL: http://english.gov.cn/Google Scholar
Chen, Z. X., & Aryce, S. 2007. Delegation and employee work outcomes: An examination of the cultural context of mediating processes in China. Academy of Management Journal, 50(1): 226–238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Child, J., Lu, Y., & Tsai, T. 2007. Institutional entrepreneurship in building an environmental protection system for the People's Republic of China. Organization Studies, 28(7): 1013–1034.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chow, C. K. W., Fung, M. K. Y., & Ngo, H. Y. 2001. Consumption patterns of entrepreneurs in the People's Republic of China. Journal of Business Research, 52(2): 189–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ding, Y., Nowak, E., & Zhang, H. 2010. Foreign vs. domestic listing: An entrepreneurial decision. Journal of Business Venturing, 25(2): 175–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Djankov, S., Qian, Y., Roland, G., & Zhuravskaya, E. 2006. Who are China's entrepreneurs? The American Economic Review, 96(2): 348–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dollinger, M. J., Li, X., & Mooney, C. H. 2010. Extending the resource-based view to the mega-event: Entrepreneurial rents and innovation. Management and Organization Review, 6(2): 195–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dutz, M. A. 2007. Unleashing India's innovation: Toward sustainable and inclusive growth. Washington, DC: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eckhardt, J. T., & Shane, S. A. 2003. Opportunities and entrepreneurship. Journal of Management, 29(3): 333–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farmer, S. M., Tierney, P., & Kung-McIntyre, K. 2003. Employee creativity in Taiwan: An application of role identity theory. Academy of Management Journal, 46(5): 618–630.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Filatotchev, I., Liu, X., Buck, T., & Wright, M. 2009. The export orientation and export performance of high-technology SMEs in emerging markets: The effects of knowledge transfer by returnee entrepreneurs. Journal of International Business Studies, 40(6): 1005–1021.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fu, J. 2010. Explaining economic growth in China and India: An institutional approach. Paper presented at the Wellington Conference on Contemporary China, 2010, Wellington, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Fu, P. P., Tsui, A. S., & Dess, G. G. 2006. The dynamics of guanxi in Chinese high-tech firms: Implications for knowledge management and decision making. Management International Review, 46(3): 277–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gartner, W. 1990. What are we talking about when we talk about entrepreneurship? Journal of Business Venturing, 5(1): 15–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gong, Y., Huang, J. C., & Farh, J. L. 2009. Employee learning orientation, transformational leadership and employee creativity: The mediating role of employee creative self-efficacy. Academy of Management Journal, 52(4): 765–778.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guo, C., & Miller, J. K. 2010. Guanxi dynamics and entrepreneurial firm creation and development in China. Management and Organization Review, 6(2): 267–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hennessey, B. A., & Amabile, T. M. 2010. Creativity. Annual Review of Psychology, 61: 569–598.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huang, Y. 2003. Selling China: Foreign direct investment during the Reform Era. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Khilstrom, R., & Laffont, J. 1979. A general equilibrium entrepreneurial theory of firm formation based on risk aversion. Journal of Political Economy, 87(4): 719–748.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krug, B. 2002. The emergence and development of the private business sector in China: The case of Shanxi. Management International Review, 42(1): 135–153.Google Scholar
Li, D. D., Feng, J., & Jiang, H. 2006. Institutional entrepreneurs. The American Economic Review, 96(2): 358–362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, H., Meng, L., Wang, Q., & Zhou, L. 2008. Political connections, financing and firm performance: Evidence from Chinese private firms. Journal of Development Economics, 87(2): 283–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, J., Chen, D., & Shapiro, D. M. 2010. Product innovations in emerging economics: The role of foreign knowledge access channels and internal efforts in Chinese firms. Management and Organization Review, 6(2): 243–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, Y., Lee, S. H., Li, X., & Liu, Y. 2010. Knowledge codification, exploitation, and innovation: The moderating influence of organizational controls in Chinese firms. Management and Organization Review, 6(2): 219–241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, S., Schulze, W., & Li, Z. 2009. Plunging into the sea, again? A study of serial entrepreneurship in China. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 26(4): 667–680.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lin, J. Y. 1992. Hybrid rice innovation in China: A study of market-demand induced technological innovation in a centrally-planned economy. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 74(1): 14–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, X., & White, S. 2001. Comparing innovation systems: A framework and application to China's transitional context. Research Policy, 30(7): 1091–1114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luo, X., Zhou, L., & Liu, S. 2005. Entrepreneurial firms in the context of China's transition economy: An integrative framework and empirical examination. Journal of Business Research, 58(3): 277–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maddux, W. W., & Galinsky, A. D. 2009. Cultural borders and mental barriers: The relationship between living abroad and creativity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(5): 1047–1061.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mumford, M. D. 2003. Where have we been, where are we going? Taking stock in creativity research. Creativity Research Journal, 15(2): 107–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mumford, M. D., Baughman, W. A., Maher, M. A., Costanza, D. P., & Supinski, E. P. 1997. Process-based measures of creative problem-solving skills: IV. Category combination. Creativity Research Journal, 10(1): 59–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China. 2008. China statistical yearbook (27th ed.). Beijing: China Statistics Press.Google Scholar
Nee, V., & Cao, Y. 2005. Market transition and the firm: Institutional change and income inequality in urban China. Management and Organization Review, 1(1): 23–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oldham, G. R., & Cummings, A. 1996. Employee creativity: Personal and contextual factors at work. Academy of Management Journal, 39(3): 607–634.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phan, P. H. 2004. Entrepreneurship theory: Possibilities and future directions. Journal of Business Venturing, 19(5): 617–620.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pistrui, D., Huang, W., Oksoy, D., Zhao, J., & Welsch, H. 2001. Entrepreneurship in China: Characteristics, attributes, and family forces shaping the emerging private sector. Family Business Review, 14(2): 141–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prasad, E. 2004. China's growth and integration into the world economy: Prospects and challenges. IMF Occasional paper 232. Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund.Google Scholar
Romer, P. M. 1990. Endogenous technological change. Journal of Political Economy, 98(5): S71–S102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Romer, P. M. 2008. Economic growth. In Henderson, D. R. (Ed.), The concise encyclopedia of economics. Washington, DC: Liberty Fund. [Cited 11 June 2010] Available from URL: http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/EconomicGrowth.htmlGoogle Scholar
Rothenberg, A. 1979. The emerging goddess. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Schumpeter, J. 1934. The theory of economic development. Boston, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Shalley, C. E., Zhou, J., & Oldham, G. R. 2004. The effects of personal and contextual characteristics on creativity: Where should we go from here? Journal of Management, 30(6): 933–958.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shane, S., & Venkataraman, S. 2000. The promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research. Academy of Management Review, 26(1): 217–226.Google Scholar
Siu, W., & Bao, Q. 2008. Network strategies of small Chinese high-technology firms: A qualitative study. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 25(1): 79–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Song, L. Z., Di Benedetto, C. A., & Song, M. 2010. Competitive advantages in the first product of new ventures. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 57(1): 88–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sternberg, R. J., & Lubart, T. I. 1991. An investment theory of creativity and its development. Human Development, 34(1): 1–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sun, P., Wright, M., & Mellahi, K. 2010. Is entrepreneur–politician alliance sustainable during transition? The case of management buyouts in China. Management and Organization Review, 6(1): 101–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tan, J. 2008. Breaking the ‘Bamboo Curtain’ and the ‘Glass Ceiling’: The experience of women entrepreneurs in high-tech industries in an emerging market. Journal of Business Ethics, 80(3): 547–564.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tan, J., Zhang, W., & Xia, J. 2008. Managing risk in a transitional environment: An exploratory study of control and incentive mechanisms of venture capital firms in China. Journal of Small Business Management, 46(2): 263–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tian, Z., Gao, H., & Cone, M. 2008. A study of the ethical issues of private entrepreneurs participating in politics in China. Journal of Business Ethics, 80(3): 627–642.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tjosvold, D., Peng, A. C., Chen, Y. F., & Su, F. 2008. Business and government interdependence in China: Cooperative goals to develop industries and the marketplace. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 25(2): 225–249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsou, T. 1986. The Cultural Revolution and post-Mao reforms: A historical perspective. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Tsui, A. S. 2009. Editor's Introduction – Autonomy of inquiry: Shaping the future of emerging scientific communities. Management and Organization Review, 5(1): 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Venkataraman, S. 1997. The distinctive domain of entrepreneurship research: An editor's perspective. In Katz, J. & Brockhaus, R. (Eds.), Advances in entrepreneurship, firm emergence and growth (vol. 3): 119–138. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.Google Scholar
Venkataraman, S. 2004. Regional transformation through technological entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 19(1): 153–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ward, T. B. 2004. Cognition, creativity, and entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 19(2): 173–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wong, P. K., Ho, Y. P., & Autio, E. 2005. Entrepreneurship, innovation and economic growth: Evidence from GEM data. Small Business Economics, 24(3): 335–350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodman, R. W., Sawyer, J. E., & Griffin, R. W. 1993. Toward a theory of organizational creativity. Academy of Management Review, 18(1): 293–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, M. 2007. Venture capital in China: A view from Europe. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 24(3): 269–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, J., & Li, J. 2008. The development of entrepreneurship in China. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 25(2): 335–359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, X., & Bartol, K. M. 2010. Linking empowering leadership and employee creativity: The influence of psychological employment, intrinsic motivation and creative process engagement. Academy of Management Journal, 53(1): 107–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, J., Souitaris, V., Soh, P., & Wong, P. 2008. A contingent model of network utilization in early financing of technology ventures. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 32(4): 593–613.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhou, J. 2008. New look at creativity in the entrepreneurial process. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 2(1): 1–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhou, J., & Shalley, C. E. 2003. Research on employee creativity: A critical review and directions for future research. In Martocchio, J. J.; Ferris, G. R. (Eds.), Research in personnel and human resource management: 165–217. Oxford: Elsevier Science.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhou, J., & Shalley, C. E. 2008. Expanding the scope and impact of organizational creativity research. In Zhou, J. & Shalley, C. E. (Eds.), Handbook of organizational creativity: 347–368. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Zhou, J., Shin, S. J., Brass, D. J., Choi, J., & Zhang, Z. 2009. Social networks, personal values, and creativity: Evidence for curvilinear and interaction effects. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(6): 1544–1552.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zu, L., & Song, L. 2009. Determinants of managerial values on corporate social responsibility: Evidence from China. Journal of Business Ethics, 88(Suppl 1): 105–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar