Abstract：Focusing on the informal elite network formed by private entrepreneurs through their mutual visits to elite groups, we examine its impact on firms’ innovation activities and its mechanism of the action. It is found that informal elite networks generally have the effect of stimulating innovation inputs and outputs through the provision of financing support, technological information, and the reduction of environmental risk perception. Further analysis reveals that the effects of different types of elite networks on firms’ innovation differ. On the one hand, the political elite network has a stronger incentive effect on innovation inputs because it plays a stronger role than the economic elite network in providing financing support and reducing risk perception. On the other hand, only economic elite networks can provide firms with technical information, which allows them to significantly increase the level of firms’ innovation outputs. In addition, the worse the institutional environment, the stronger the incentive effect of informal elite networks on firm innovation.
柳建坤，何晓斌. 非正式精英网络对民营企业创新的影响研究[J]. 管理学报, 2025, 22(3): 483-.
LIU Jiankun，HE Xiaobin. Research on the Impact of Informal Elite Networks on Private Enterprise Innovation. Chinese Journal of Management, 2025, 22(3): 483-.
