Impact of nudging policy on the performance of research scientists in State Key Laboratories of China: innovation search capabilities as mediators

This article examines the linkages between the scientists’ perception to nudge in the evaluation policy and performance of research scientists at the individual level. Drawing on the nudging theory and ‘innovation search’ studies, we develop a conceptual model that innovation search capabilities mediate the effects of perceived policy nudge on performance and validate it by taking a sample of research scientists in 235 State Key Laboratories of China as the target group. Results are strongly supported that the greater extent to which research scientists perceived policy nudges, the better individual performance they achieved. To explain how this process works, innovation search capabilities were introduced and testified as full mediating factors. Specifically, science-oriented innovation capabilities exert more influential mediating effect than the practice-oriented counterpart, but the latter should not be ignored because of its considerable proportion. Implications for research and practice are also discussed.