Search results

Although the impact of environmental, social and governance (ESG) on firms' innovation has attracted attention, the existing research findings diverge. The authors believe that failure to consider both innovation input and output is an important reason for the divergence of conclusions in the extant literature when discussing the impact of ESG and firm innovation. Thus, based on signaling theory, this study aims to reconcile these divergent findings by examining the impact of ESG performance on firms' innovation efficiency.

To seek empirical evidence to support the authors’ theoretical view, the authors conduct an empirical test based on the Tobit model using 8 years of data from Chinese listed companies.

Although ESG performance effectively improves firms' innovation efficiency, the institutional-level signaling environment (including state-owned firms and regional market development) weakens the positive effect of ESG performance on firms' innovation efficiency. Further tests suggest that financing constraints partially mediate the relationship between ESG performance and firms' innovation efficiency.

By systematically revealing whether, how and under what circumstances ESG performance improves firms' innovation advantages, this study bridges the gap in the existing literature and highlights important implications to suggest how firms can better capture the value associated with ESG.

The impact of executive characteristics on firm internationalization has already been extensively explored. However, relatively few studies have examined the critical role of chief executive officer (CEO) personality attributes, and especially CEO openness, in firm internationalization. This research aims to deepen the understanding of firm internationalization, by exploring whether and when CEO openness influences firm internationalization.

A sample of private high-tech listed firms in China is used, with data from 2004 to 2020.

Based on upper echelons theory, this study theorizes and finds that CEO openness will positively influence firm internationalization. Further, based on the behavioral theory of the firm, this study finds that the performance aspiration gap weakens the positive effect of CEO openness on firm internationalization, but also finds that the potential slack strengthens this effect.

First, the study reinterprets firm internationalization strategies from the perspective of CEO openness, a personality attribute; CEO openness is an important but so far rarely discussed topic in the field of international business. Second, for the first time, problemistic search and slack search into a research framework are introduced to explore the relationship between CEO characteristics and firm internationalization. This approach can further define the boundary conditions under which CEOs can project their values, preferences and personalities into the process of formulating and implementing a firm's internationalization strategy.

Economic policy uncertainty has increased around the world since the financial crisis of 2007–2008. While scholars have devoted a lot of time and energy to investigating the impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on firm innovation, they have not reached consistent research conclusions. This study aimed to clarify the above research differences by exploring the impact of EPU on firms' relative exploitative innovation emphasis, so as to provide a more comprehensive and granular understanding of the relationship between EPU and firm innovation.

This study obtained 17,165 firm-year data points from 3,107 listed companies in China. It analyzed the above data with a fixed effects model. In addition, this study used an instrumental variables method to solve potential endogeneity problems.

Based on real options theory and contingency theory, the authors proposed and found that EPU has a significant positive effect on relative exploitative innovation emphasis. In addition, the authors proposed and found that this effect is more pronounced in industries with high technological uncertainty, low competitive intensity, and low state monopolization.

This study is the first to explore why firms prefer exploitative innovation over exploratory innovation from the perspective of EPU. In doing so, this study expands and enriches the EPU literature and the innovation literature. Furthermore, by introducing the moderating role of industry environment, this study deepens the authors' understanding of how complex interactions between industry and institutional environments work together to shape firm strategic choices, and especially firm innovation. Finally, the conclusions of this study have important practical implications for shareholders to take measures to balance exploitative innovation and exploratory innovation to achieve better development.

This study aims to re-examine the impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on firm innovation. Studies on how EPU affects firm innovation have been inconclusive. The authors clarified the curvilinear relationship between EPU and firm innovation and examined the moderating effects of managerial pay gaps, specifically vertical pay disparity and horizontal pay dispersion.

This study’s analyses used data collected from Chinese listed companies from 2007 to 2019.

The authors found an inverted U-shaped relationship between EPU and firm innovation. Furthermore, vertical pay disparity strengthens the curvilinear relationship, while horizontal pay dispersion weakens it.

First, politicians should avoid adjusting economic policies too frequently because the high EPU levels created by frequent adjustments can inhibit business innovation. Second, firms should be aware that EPU creates opportunities for leapfrogging. In particular, firms can incentivize executives to take advantage of the valuable growth opportunities presented by EPU by widening vertical pay disparities and avoiding excessive horizontal pay dispersion.

First, the authors analyze not only the positive effects of lower EPU on firm innovation but also the negative impacts of higher EPU to examine EPU’s “double-edged sword” effect on firm innovation. Second, the investigation of vertical pay disparity and horizontal pay dispersion as moderating variables sheds new light on the equivocal research findings regarding the EPU–firm innovation relationship and clarifies the boundary conditions of the double-edged sword effect of EPU on firm innovation.

This study aims to examine whether exploitative and exploratory overseas R&D have independent and significant effects on emerging economy multinational enterprises' (EMNEs’) innovation performance and whether top management team (TMT) nationality diversity and openness have a moderating effect on these relationships.

This study analyzes data collected from Chinese-listed manufacturing enterprises for 2007 to 2018.

Empirical results show that both exploitative and exploratory overseas R&D can help improve EMNEs' innovation performance. The authors further find that TMT nationality diversity and TMT openness strengthen the aforementioned relationships.

This study presents the first empirical evidence showing whether and when exploitative and exploratory overseas R&D have independent and heterogeneous effects on EMNEs' innovation performance.

Noncontrolling large shareholders can reduce the agency problem of executives and can reduce the expropriation or tunneling behavior of controlling shareholders, thereby promoting corporate innovation. However, too many noncontrolling large shareholders may also lead to excessive supervision, thereby inhibiting innovative activities that contribute to the long-term value of the firm. Research to date, however, has not examined the nonlinear impact of noncontrolling large shareholders on corporate innovation. Based on principal–agent theory and the too-much-of-a-good-thing (TMGT) effect, the authors discuss the inverted U-shaped influence of noncontrolling large shareholders on corporate innovation and the moderating effect of industry competition and corporate product diversification on the above relationship.

Based on the empirical data of Chinese listed companies from 2003 to 2017, the authors use the bidirectional fixed effects model to conduct empirical testing and robustness testing of the research hypotheses.

There is an inverted U-shaped relationship between noncontrolling large shareholders and corporate innovation; type I and type II agency costs play a mediating role between noncontrolling large shareholders and corporate innovation. In addition, firm product diversification weakens the inverted U-shaped relationship between noncontrolling large shareholders and corporate innovation, but industry competition has no significant moderating effect on the above relationship.

This research has important implications for policy makers, to better activate corporate innovation vitality, and investors, to better choose investment targets. Specifically, investors and policy makers should be aware that an appropriate increase in larger noncontrolling shareholders can maximize the enthusiasm of firms for innovation and enhance corporate value, but they should also realize that having too many noncontrolling large shareholders may backfire.

This research helps the authors to understand the pros and cons of increasing the number of noncontrolling large shareholders more comprehensively and also helps to understand corporate innovation more comprehensively from a supervisory perspective. In addition, this research also enhances the explanatory and predictive power of the TMGT effect.

Based on socioemotional wealth theory, the authors explore the impact of founder domination (with the founder as the chairman or CEO) on the earnings management activities of family firms and examine the moderating effect of the industry environment on the above relationship.

Based on the multivariate regression model, the authors test the theoretical view on the empirical data of Chinese family-owned listed companies.

The authors propose and find that under founder domination, family firms are unlikely to engage in earnings management activities. Furthermore, the authors find that industry growth enhances the above relationship, while industry competition weakens it.

First, by clarifying the importance and heterogeneous impacts of the founder serving as chairman or CEO on China's family firms' earnings management, this research contributes to a fuller understanding of the impact of founder domination on the business activities of firms, especially family firms. Second, the authors contribute to the literature that examines the antecedents of earnings management, particularly in family firms. Third, the authors contribute to the study of the boundary conditions of the “founder domination-firms’ business activities” framework.

Whether and when the innovation aspiration shortfall (e.g. innovation performance lower than aspirations) will affect emerging economy firms (EEFs)' international expansion remains an important unanswered theoretical and practical question.

Based on performance feedback theory, this study explores the impact of innovation aspiration shortfall on EEFs' international expansion and the moderating role of CEO origin.

This study finds that innovation aspiration shortfall has a positive impact on EEFs' international expansion. This study also uncovers that EEFs are less likely to implement international expansion in response to innovation aspiration shortfall when the CEO is a founder than when the CEO is a non-founder, and EEFs are more likely to implement international expansion in response to innovation aspiration shortfall when the CEO is an outsider-CEO than when the CEO is an insider-CEO.

This study proposes that the interaction between innovation aspiration shortfall and CEO origin can be a useful predictor of EEFs' international expansion.

Based on the socioemotional wealth theory, this study aims to empirically investigate how founder reign, that is a founder serving as a cheif executive officer (CEO) or chairman, influences family firms' research and development (R&D) investment in emerging economies (e.g. China).

This study empirically tested the hypotheses based on a sample of listed Chinese family companies from 2008 to 2018.

Founder reign has a negative impact on family firms' R&D investment. Particularly, the negative impact of the founder serving as chairman on family firms' R&D investment is larger than the negative impact of the founder serving as CEO on family firms' R&D investment. Founder's military experience weakens the negative impact of founder reign on family firms' R&D investment, but founder's executive master of business administration (E)MBA experience has no moderating effect on this relationship.

First, the authors contribute to the family firm innovation literature by providing an alternative but complementary explanation of why family firms have relatively low R&D investment levels. This research shows that founder reign is a key reason for family firms in China eschewing R&D investment. Second, by incorporating the founder serving as CEO and the founder serving as chairman into the analytical framework, and then examining their impact on family firms' R&D investment, our research helps us to fully understand the impact of founder reign on firm strategic actions. Third, we contribute to the “founder reign-firm strategic actions” framework by revealing how founders' human capital profoundly affects the relationship between founder reign and family firms' R&D investment.

This paper aims to investigate the moderating roles of negative attainment discrepancy and state ownership in the relationship between internationalization speed and firm innovation.

Panel fixed-effects regressions model was applied to test the influence of internationalization speed on firm innovation using data collected from Chinese listed companies between 2003 and 2017.

The internationalization speed can positively promote firm innovation. Moreover, negative attainment discrepancy enhances the effect of internationalization speed on firm innovation. The effect of negative attainment discrepancy on internationalization speed and firm innovation performance is more positive in state-owned firms than in non-state-owned firms.

A suitable time of internationalization speed to affect firm innovation is obtained.

This paper suggests that decision-makers should set an appropriate aspiration to internationalize firms and increase firm innovation. Moreover, state-owned enterprises should pay attention to negative attainment discrepancies.

The study revealed the boundary conditions of negative attainment discrepancy and state ownership on the relationship between internationalization speed and firm innovation, contributing to the theoretical advancements in internationalization speed.