Jing Zhang

• Ph.D.
• Professor at Old Dominion University

Research and development at the nanoscale requires a large degree of integration, from convergence of research disciplines in new fields of enquiry to new linkages between start-ups, regional actors and research facilities. Based on the analysis of two clusters in nanotechnologies (MESA+ (Twente) and other centres in The Netherlands and Minatec in...

Prior research on firm behavior in emerging economies like China has highlighted the extensive building and use of political ties by business managers. However, there are mixed findings regarding the value of political ties on firm performance. In this study, we propose a task-contingency approach to explain when the investment in political ties wi...

This study investigates when indirect ties, in which a referrer appears between an entrepreneur and a resource owner, can enhance the likelihood of resource acquisitions for starting a new venture. The authors argue that when either resource owners or referrers possess a greater level of prior knowledge about a venture’s technology or product, info...

This study introduces the novel construct of bridge-economy partners, which can assist Western firms in learning how to collaborate with local partners when entering unfamiliar foreign countries that have substantially different socioeconomic characteristics. We offer initial empirical evidence regarding the relevance of establishing such interorga...

Technology adoption is an important solution for physicians to increase work efficiency, and thus deal with role conflict among their multiple job roles. Prior studies have not investigated how multiple job roles and role conflict influence physicians’ technology adoption intentions. Based on role strain theory and role identity theory, we present...

Transaction platforms, such as Amazon and Uber, are emerging as central players in many segments of the global economy. Extant research has primarily focused on the impact of network effects on platform growth and rivalry, but not much is known about governance configurations in platforms and their impact on outcomes that are crucial to the long-te...

This study explores how entrepreneurial firms’ networking logics may change under different types of perceived uncertainty. The arrival of new knowledge from the entrepreneurial firm’s network may alter the perceived technology and market uncertainty, that in turn determines how the firm adopts or combines the two opposing logics of causation and e...

Purpose This study aims to explore how entrepreneurial firms' networking logics may change under different types of perceived uncertainty. The arrival of new knowledge from the entrepreneurial firm's network may alter the perceived technology and market uncertainty that in turn determines how the firm adopts or combines the two opposing logics of c...

Call for Papers, AIB 2022

Purpose For new ventures, access to entrepreneurship assistantship is the main source of growth and innovativeness. Accelerators, a growing provider of entrepreneurial resources, offer such assistantship. This study aims to identify several factors that might account for a startup’s acceptance of accelerator programs. Particularly, this paper exami...

Purpose The environment in high-tech industries is highly dynamic, and after COVID-19, it has become even more unpredictable. Hence, it has become critical for firms to develop strategies to cope with a highly dynamic environment. This paper aims to analyze how the impact of the scientific collaboration networks with URIs (universities and research...

Drawing on social network theory and technological innovation literature, this study investigates how firm innovation mediates the relationship between tie strength of alliance network and the probability of producing dominant designs. We argue that strong ties facilitate both exploratory and exploitative innovation, which enables firms to produce...

Firms going through an initial public offering (IPO) face many uncertainties. Geographic distance between the firm headquarters and the major financial centers, where most investors are located, is another concern. Using a sample of 688 Chinese initial public offerings between 2005 and 2012, we find that remote firms leave investors informationally...

Purpose Grounded in theory of planned behavior, this study explores how national social capital, as an important but untested element of institutional environment, influences the effect of perceived entrepreneurial ability on entrepreneurial intentions. Design/methodology/approach Using data of more than 95,000 individuals in 33 countries from Adu...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to advance a holistic model of venture capital (VC) firms’ syndication decisions in an emerging economy. When considering syndication with local partners, VC firms consider multiple sources of risk related to firm-specific characteristics (life-cycle, operational and political). In conjunction with these risk f...

While the strategy literature has long advocated the impact of strong firm dynamic capabilities on new product development, scant research has discussed how to build dynamic marketing capabilities (DMCs), a key component of dynamic capabilities, to improve innovation performance. Focusing on emerging economies, this study develops a framework for e...

Compared to large established firms, technology-based new firms (TBNF) seem well placed to produce breakthrough innovations although questions remain as to their adeptness at subsequent exploitation. Building on the innovation and strategy literatures, the study identifies two different knowledge-development approaches or modes (business models) in...

Taking an institution-based view, we investigate how entrepreneurs respond to immature regulatory environments in order to be listed on stock markets in countries with an emerging economy. Unlike stock markets in developed countries, in emerging markets, gaining government approval for listing is a critical and more unpredictable process for entrep...

Research summary We examine the dilemma of ethnic investors in using ethnic network ties to invest by extending the ‘ethnic enclave’ concept to incorporate two dimensions: social network and social status. Our analysis of the first round of venture capital funding in Silicon Valley from 1976 to 2004 shows a higher likelihood of Asian venture capita...

Integrating signaling theory with social network theory, we investigate the influence of venture capitalists’ (VCs’) IPO experience on the likelihood of foreign IPO successes. Using data from VC-backed Chinese companies listed on the U.S. or Chinese stock markets from 2002 to 2012, we find that U.S. VCs’ experience in either market increases the ch...

Although risk has always been at the center of entrepreneurship, research on risk recognition in new ventures is limited. Applying cognitive information-processing theory, we develop a theoretical framework that explores the interactive influences of entrepreneurs' social networks and their cognitive characteristics on the outcomes of risk recognit...

Whereas prior studies suggest that strategic alliances offer powerful tools for firms to explore business opportunities and alliances may explore in technology and organization dimensions, firms tend to compensate for exploration in one dimension by engaging in exploitation in the other dimension. The question of how firms can explore at a higher l...

Integrating signaling theory with social network theory, we investigate the influences of VCs’ IPO experience on the likelihood of their portfolio companies undertaking IPOs in foreign countries. Using data of all VC-backed Chinese companies listed in the U.S. or Chinese stock market during 2002-2012, we find that U.S. VCs’ experience in either mar...

We theorize that a foreign firm’s position in alliance networks in a host country and its experience in the industry in general and in the host country in particular, jointly influences its attractiveness and willingness to form strategic partnership with firms from the home and host country for different reasons. Through a longitudinal analysis of...

This study examines how initial public offering (IPO) underpricing is affected by geographic distance. Specifically, our analysis investigates whether firms which are located greater distances from major financial centers experience greater underpricing at IPO. We also apply signaling theory to explain how IPO firm associations signal quality there...

We examine how the firms’ position in alliance networks in host country influences their strategic partner selection pattern. We view alliances as dual phenomena which require willingness and attractiveness of both parties to be established. Focusing on focal firms from developed countries entering into emerging markets, we argue that focal firms’...

The entrepreneurship literature suggests that network ties are useful in mitigating the problem of information asymmetry faced by entrepreneurs when acquiring resources at the early stage of venture creation. We introduce prior knowledge of resource owners as an inverse measure of information asymmetry and investigate the contingent effect of prior...

This study examines the relationship between niche agricultural producers’ information about and acquisition of capital from government or private agencies. Communities and governments need policies that facilitate the flow of capital, especially during periods of economic weakness. Niche agricultural producers may be skilled in production but weak...

This article identifies and classifies the problems perceived by entrepreneurs when they use social network ties (direct and indirect ties) to acquire resources during the early stages of new venture formation process. On the basis of field interviews with 128 high-tech entrepreneurs in Singapore, the author finds that entrepreneurs have a high lev...

This study investigates how an incumbent company's internal characteristics influence its propensity to form learning alliances. A firm may be reluctant to enter a research alliance when it has deep knowledge in a certain technological field due to concerns about knowledge leakage and the low possibility of being able to learn much from collaborati...

This article explores how higher education institutions (HEIs) might improve entrepreneurship education by developing an effective learning community for small business owner-managers. Drawing on six cases from a successful training programme, the authors identify the reasons for scarce entrepreneurial learning opportunities in owner-managers' dail...

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore how owner‐managers of small businesses can learn in peer networks to improve their management skills. It aims to offer a new way of understanding owner‐managers' learning as part of a social process, by highlighting the complex, interactive relationship that exists between the owner‐manager, his or...

This study examines how institutional environmental factors, including cultural norm, state regulatory system and venture capital market, influence the high-tech entrepreneur's choice for using network vs. market methods when approaching prospective investors at the early stage of their new venture creation. We collected comparative data through on...

Most of the entrepreneurship literature has addressed the benefits and necessity of using social network ties as opposed to market methods in early venture finance, but it has largely understated the potential limitations and costs of doing so. Specifically, very sparse research has examined the factors that influence entrepreneurs' choice between...

This study proposes a multi-dimension, multi-contingent “fit” perspective for examining different practices adapted by entrepreneurial firms in acquiring human resources. We posit that while environmental constraints are important considerations for adapting recruitment practices through networks, strategic needs and interpersonal dynamics are the...

This study uses the publishing industry to illustrate how Taiwan's small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) modified their network structures to meet the requirements of the changing environment in the past 20 years. Based on interviews with 21 high-level managers in the top publishers and three network experts, six patterns of network structures were o...

It is widely recognized that “entrepreneurship is a process of learning, and a theory of entrepreneurship requires a theory of learning”. However, the entrepreneurial learning literature is still in the emerging stage. This paper explores the learning process of entrepreneurs in a largely ignored but very important context: peer networks, and exami...