When political ties matter for firm performance? The role of CEO’s political utilization orientation and prosocial orientation

This study investigates how and under which conditions political ties affect firm performance in a transition economy. Using the network-based view of social capital, we first distinguish between the two stages of accessing and mobilizing social capital in political ties, and then focus on network exploitation of political ties, proposing that government support acts as a mechanism that converts political ties into firm performance. We further examine the role of two personal traits of CEOs—political utilization orientation and prosocial orientation—in moderating this relationship. Using multi-source data from 626 small and medium-sized enterprises in China’s transition economy, we find that the effect of political ties on firm performance largely depends on the extent to which political ties can be utilized, and that the CEO’s political utilization orientation and prosocial orientation positively moderate this relationship. The implications of our findings for theory and practice are discussed.