The impact of characteristics of industry-university-research cooperation network on innovation performance: mediating role of social capital

Taking A-share listed companies in the petroleum industry as the research object, this paper empirically studies the relationship among the characteristics of industry-university-research (IUR) cooperation network, social capital, and innovation performance in the petroleum companies. The empirical research results show that the strength and centrality of the IUR cooperation network in the petroleum industry positively affect social capital and innovation performance; Network scale has no significant positive impact on social capital and innovation performance; Social capital plays a partially mediating role in the influence of characteristics of IUR cooperation network on innovation performance. According to the research findings, some strategies to improve the innovation performance of petroleum companies are proposed, which include occupying the center of the IUR cooperation network, high-frequency interaction with the objects of the IUR cooperation network, and expansion of the IUR cooperation network should match its own growth stage.