City Research Online

Not All Technologies Are Created Equal for Stakeholders: Constituency Statutes, Firm Stakeholder Orientation and Investments in Technology Generality

Conti, R. & Novelli, E. ORCID: 0000-0002-6899-1096 (2022). Not All Technologies Are Created Equal for Stakeholders: Constituency Statutes, Firm Stakeholder Orientation and Investments in Technology Generality. Research Policy, 51(3), article number 104470. doi: 10.1016/j.respol.2021.104470

Abstract

Previous research has analyzed the effect of stakeholder orientation on the amount of technological investment firms make but has ignored its effect on the characteristics of that investment. To address this gap, we explored the impact of stakeholder orientation on the degree of generality of a firm’s technological investment. More general technologies (i.e., technologies easily deployable in a wider range of industries) are more likely to promote major changes in the firm’s scope. However, these changes undermine the value of stakeholders’ past relationship-specific investments, which are tailored to a certain firm scope. Therefore, more stakeholder-oriented firms will invest in less general technological assets to reduce stakeholder concerns and opposition. This negative effect will be stronger in more uncertain industries, where stakeholders are more concerned that firms might use technology generality to change their scope following the realization of previously unforeseen contingencies. However, it will be weaker in more competitive industries, where stakeholders tend to make less relationship-specific investments and are less concerned with changes in firm scope triggered by an increase in technology generality. We test our hypotheses by exploiting the enactment of constituency statutes in 34 U.S. states during the period 1976–2000 as a plausibly exogenous variation in firms’ stakeholder orientation.

Publication Type: Article
Additional Information: © 2022. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Publisher Keywords: General Technology, Firm Scope, Stakeholder Orientation
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
T Technology > T Technology (General)
Departments: Bayes Business School > Management
SWORD Depositor:
[thumbnail of Conti_Novelli_2022.pdf]
Preview
Text - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives.

Download (887kB) | Preview

Export

Add to AnyAdd to TwitterAdd to FacebookAdd to LinkedinAdd to PinterestAdd to Email

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics

Actions (login required)

Admin Login Admin Login