Abstract:    During the period from 2015 to 2020, the number of High and New Technology Enterprises (HNTE) in China witnessed rapid growth, increasing from over 100,000 to nearly 270,000. HNTE have emerged as the main driving force and vanguard of innovation and development in China. However, it is undeniable that China′s HNTE still face the problems of late development, poor independent ability and high dependence on foreign countries. In recent years, in order to curb the development of key technologies in China, the United States launched a crackdown on China′s science and technology, cut off the supply of chips to China enterprises, and plunged enterprises into a crisis of "core shortage". Not only chips, but also high-end medical and biotechnology industries have become focal points of the U.S.′s science and technology crackdown against China. Technological blockade has hindered HNTE′ access to technological progress from external sources, forcing them to continuously enhance their research and development (R&D) innovation levels. However, continuous R&D innovation needs to consume enterprise resources. Where do the resources come from?As a significant resource type for enterprises, slack resources play a critical role in facilitating R&D innovation. However, at present, the academic research has not reached a consensus regarding the impact of slack resources on R&D innovation. Hence, this study selects the background of the U.S.′s science and technology crackdown against China to further explore and deepen the understanding of the determinants of the effectiveness of slack resources.This study used a sample of 2,799 HNTE in China from 2015 to 2020 and utilized the panel Poisson regression estimation method to empirically examine the changing relationship between slack resources and R&D innovation under the background of the America′s science and technology crackdown against China. Moreover, this study investigated the interactive impact of different combinations of slack resources on R&D innovation. Furthermore, this study explored the moderating effect of corporate governance on the relationship between slack resources and R&D innovation. The research findings indicated that, under the background of science and technology crackdown, the impact of financial slack on R&D innovation is weakened, while the positive effect of HR slack on R&D innovation is significantly enhanced. The joint configuration of financial slack and HR slack can significantly improve the level of R&D innovation in enterprises. Additionally, corporate governance negatively moderates the impact of financial slack and HR slack on R&D innovation.The main contributions of this study are as follows: firstly, existing research on slack resources has seldom directly influenced R&D innovation. However, under the background of science and technology crackdown, the interruption of external technology forces enterprises to change their innovation methods, which in turn affects their demand for different slack resources and their effectiveness. Consequently, this study intends to investigate the changing effectiveness of slack resources on R&D innovation under the background of science and technology crackdown, thereby expanding the research context of slack resources and deepening the understanding of their relationship.Secondly, existing literature often studies financial slack and HR slack separately, neglecting the strategic interactions and synergistic capabilities between different slack resources. This study has deepened the understanding of enterprise innovation strategies through an analysis of different slack resources and their synergistic effects, while providing a research perspective on the strategic synergy of slack resources.Thirdly, this study has important practical value for enterprises in promoting R&D innovation in the new situation. Moderate levels of slack resources, especially HR slack, will contribute to enterprises′ resilience against the impact of science and technology crackdown. Based on this, enterprises should optimize the allocation of slack resources, focusing on the conversion capability and complementary effects among different slack resources, thereby enhancing R&D innovation levels.

Key words: science and technology crackdown, financial slack, human resource slack, R&D innovation