How innovation alliances promote technological innovation—Evidence from China’s new research & development institutes

Applied research institutes are crucial to technological progress. New Research & Development Institutes (NRDIs) are such a type of organization with Chinese styles. NRDIs participate in innovation alliances to promote technological innovation. Extant literature rarely explores innovation alliances’ influence on NRDIs. Based on social network theories, this research explains how innovation alliances affect NRDIs’ innovation performance. The analysis based on the panel data of 138 NRDIs in China’s Guangdong Province during 2017–2022 finds that innovation alliances’ number and diversity positively affect applied research institutes’ innovation performance. Also, internal financial resources negatively moderate the relationship between innovation alliances’ diversity and alliance members’ innovation performance.