A study on the relationship among interlocking directorates,organizational slacks and firm's innovation performance

Supported by the resource dependent theory,applying social network and social statistical analyzing method,we explore the consequence of interlocking directorates on firm's innovation performance as well as on organizational slacks,test the mediating effect of organizational slacks and whether the resource dependent theory that formulated under the western practice is applicable to China's circumstances.The main results are as follows: Firstly,centrality degree including all relationships has no significant effect on firm's innovation performance.Strong interlocking relationships and the geographical convergence affect firm's innovation performance significantly.Secondly,as to the consequence of interlocking directorates on organizational slacks,degree centrality,the number of strong interlocking and geographical convergence all have negative effect on organizational slacks,only geographical convergence affects significantly.In the end,among the interlocking directorates,organizational slacks and innovation performance,the mediating effect of organizational slacks is insignificant.In one word,interlocking directorates are helpful for improving innovation performance and reducing organizational slacks,but the reduction of organizational slacks can not improve innovation performance,so the resource dependent theory is applicable in China.The results have important practical significance in understanding the role and function of interlocking directorates in China's transitional economy