The impact of corporate political activity on innovation in Sub-Saharan African countries: A double-edged sword

This study examines the impact of firms' resources and corporate political activity on firm innovation. Using a dataset of 7461 firms in 12 sub-Saharan African countries, we find that firms' financial capacity and knowledge contribute significantly to innovation. Moreover, although the corporate political activity positively affects firm innovation, it adversely influences the efficiency of firms’ internal knowledge utilization for innovation. As corporate political activity is a double-edged sword for innovation, this study provides insightful implications for policymakers to boost innovation in sub-Saharan African countries.