Study of the relationship between political connections and corporate re-entrepreneurial performance

Abstract

Based on both resource-based theory and institution-based theory, this study places political connections, acquisition of entrepreneurial resources, institutional environment, and corporate re-entrepreneurial performance into the same research framework. Using data from 223 real estate companies in China as a sample and with the help of the statistical tools SPSS 22.0 and Mplus 7.0, the study examines the internal influence mechanism of political connections on corporate re-entrepreneurial performance as well as the mediating effect of acquisition of entrepreneurial resources and the moderating effect of institutional environment. The empirical results show that both explicit political connections and implicit ones have positive impacts on corporate re-entrepreneurial performance through the mediating effect of acquisition of entrepreneurial knowledge resources and entrepreneurial asset resources. Meanwhile, institutional environment positively regulates the relationship between political connections and corporate re-entrepreneurial performance. The results of the study suggest that political connections have positive impacts on corporate re-entrepreneurial performance under the circumstances of China's transitional economy, but the impacts are restricted by institutional environment to a large extent.