Antecedents and consequences of strategic patenting for legitimacy: Evidence from China
研究了中国企业为获取合法性而进行战略性专利的动机和效果，发现新创、小型或私营企业更倾向此行为，且这类专利有助于获得政府资助、高科认证和风投，但未提升新产品销售。
This article provides an overview of strategic patenting for legitimacy. Using the act of prior patent publication as the proxy variable, it empirically examines the antecedents and consequences of firms’ choice of strategic patenting for legitimacy in an integrated framework. Based on Chinese industrial enterprises and a patent database, the results suggest that firms with liabilities of newness, smallness, or privateness are more likely to patent strategically for legitimacy. Meanwhile, the interactions of these characteristics positively impact the ratio of firm to patent strategically for legitimacy. Furthermore, the results also suggest that such strategic patents increase the probability of firms obtaining government sponsorships, high-tech certifications, and venture capital investments rather than enhancing their new product sales. The findings contribute to the literature on patent strategy and firm innovation.