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Does the Board of Directors Affect the Extent of Corporate R&D? Evidence from Italian listed companies

Author

Listed:
  • Fabrizio Rossi

    (University of Cassino and Southern Lazio)

  • Richard J. Cebula

    (Jacksonville University)

Abstract

Using a panel dataset for 369 firm-year observations during the period 2005-2013 in the Italian context, we investigate the impact of certain characteristics of corporate boards on the magnitude of corporate Research and Development (R&D). Our findings reveal a negative relationship between R&D and board size on the one hand and between R&D and board ownership on the other hand. Moreover, we find strong evidence of a positive and statistically significant relationship between R&D and independent corporate board directors. In addition, we also find a relationship between R&D and board diversity effect, as measured by women and foreign members on the boardroom. Our study uses multiple econometric models to address endogeneity issues.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabrizio Rossi & Richard J. Cebula, 2015. "Does the Board of Directors Affect the Extent of Corporate R&D? Evidence from Italian listed companies," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 35(4), pages 2567-2580.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-15-00524
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Board of Directors; R&D; Agency Theory; Corporate Governance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance
    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights

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