Collaboration networks and innovation: does corporate lobbying matter?

Purpose – This study aims to investigate how corporate lobbying affects the relationship between collaboration networks and innovation. Design/methodology/approach – The study incorporates insights from the corporate political strategy perspective into the social network research to examine how firms utilize non‐market mechanisms as a way to manage uncertainty. In particular, using data from 291 US pharmaceutical firms, the authors study the moderating effects of corporate lobbying on the relationship between collaboration networks and firm innovativeness. Findings – The results show that corporate lobbying moderates the relationship between network centrality, structural holes, and network size, and firm innovativeness. Originality/value – The study integrates social network and corporate political strategy research in the case of collaboration networks. Integrating social network and corporate political strategy literatures provides us with new insights into what determines success of firm innovativeness. The study shows that in addition to network structures, firms must consider other variables such as government regulation in fostering their innovativeness.