Reputation Incentive or Resource Curse? The Impact of Alumni Network on Firms' Green Innovation

ABSTRACT Using empirical data from China, this paper empirically studies the impact of alumni networks amongst business people on firms' green innovation. Empirical results show that the chairperson's core position in the alumni network can increase a firm's green innovations. The social connections of chairpersons have a reputation motivation effect on green innovation. Besides, social networks complement formal institutions during economic transition in emerging markets. When the regulation from formal institutions is weak, such as when environmental regulation is weak, or the firm is not on the list of pollution monitoring by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment , the effect of alumni networks is more significant. The effect of the alumni network on economic activities is subtle and still exists even in regions with a high degree of marketization. But it should not be ignored that the positive effect is more significant on strategic green innovation than on substantive green innovation.