IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/chieco/v65y2021ics1043951x20301590.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does top management quality promote innovation? Firm-level evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Zhao, Qifeng
  • Li, Zhen
  • Yu, Yihua

Abstract

The human capital in management teams plays an increasingly important role in firms' governance and policies. We construct a comprehensive index of top management quality using a principal component analysis to empirically prove top management quality's positive impacts on corporate innovation. This study finds that higher-quality management teams tend to invest more in research and development projects and apply for more and higher-quality of patents. These results are consistent after conducting a series of robustness checks. We control for potential endogeneity using a firm fixed-effects model, the instrumental variable approach, and the propensity score-matching method. Three main channels are tested through which higher-quality top management teams will lead to higher innovation: higher tolerance for failure, easing of financial constraints, and more hiring of high-quality inventors. Finally, further analyses reveal that the positive effects of top management quality on innovation are more obvious for high-tech, state-owned, and growing enterprises.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhao, Qifeng & Li, Zhen & Yu, Yihua, 2021. "Does top management quality promote innovation? Firm-level evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:65:y:2021:i:c:s1043951x20301590
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2020.101562
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043951X20301590
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.chieco.2020.101562?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Romer, Paul M, 1986. "Increasing Returns and Long-run Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(5), pages 1002-1037, October.
    2. Bronwyn H. Hall & Adam Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg, 2005. "Market Value and Patent Citations," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 36(1), pages 16-38, Spring.
    3. Xu, Mingli & Kong, Gaowen & Kong, Dongmin, 2017. "Does wage justice hamper creativity? Pay gap and firm innovation in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 186-202.
    4. Becker-Blease, John R., 2011. "Governance and innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 947-958, September.
    5. Acharya, Viral & Xu, Zhaoxia, 2017. "Financial dependence and innovation: The case of public versus private firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(2), pages 223-243.
    6. Philippe Aghion & John Van Reenen & Luigi Zingales, 2013. "Innovation and Institutional Ownership," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(1), pages 277-304, February.
    7. Xuan Tian & Tracy Yue Wang, 2014. "Tolerance for Failure and Corporate Innovation," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(1), pages 211-255, January.
    8. Wang, Xu & Xie, Zhuan & Zhang, Xiaobo & Huang, Yiping, 2018. "Roads to innovation: Firm-level evidence from People's Republic of China (PRC)," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 154-170.
    9. Mark A Chen & Qinxi Wu & Baozhong Yang, 2019. "How Valuable Is FinTech Innovation?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(5), pages 2062-2106.
    10. Josh Lerner & Morten Sorensen & Per Strömberg, 2011. "Private Equity and Long‐Run Investment: The Case of Innovation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(2), pages 445-477, April.
    11. Sunder, Jayanthi & Sunder, Shyam V. & Zhang, Jingjing, 2017. "Pilot CEOs and corporate innovation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(1), pages 209-224.
    12. Holmström, Bengt, 1989. "Agency Costs and Innovation," Working Paper Series 214, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    13. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicholas S., 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 187-221, June.
    14. Alberto Galasso & Timothy S. Simcoe, 2011. "CEO Overconfidence and Innovation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(8), pages 1469-1484, August.
    15. Bronwyn Hall, 2004. "The financing of research and development," Chapters, in: Anthony Bartzokas & Sunil Mani (ed.), Financial Systems, Corporate Investment in Innovation, and Venture Capital, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Chang, Xin & Fu, Kangkang & Low, Angie & Zhang, Wenrui, 2015. "Non-executive employee stock options and corporate innovation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 168-188.
    17. Stewart C. Myers & Nicholas S. Majluf, 1984. "Corporate Financing and Investment Decisions When Firms Have InformationThat Investors Do Not Have," NBER Working Papers 1396, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Lyandres, Evgeny & Palazzo, Berardino, 2016. "Cash Holdings, Competition, and Innovation," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(6), pages 1823-1861, December.
    19. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    20. David Hirshleifer & Angie Low & Siew Hong Teoh, 2012. "Are Overconfident CEOs Better Innovators?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(4), pages 1457-1498, August.
    21. Viral V. Acharya & Krishnamurthy V. Subramanian, 2009. "Bankruptcy Codes and Innovation," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(12), pages 4949-4988, December.
    22. Yuan, Rongli & Wen, Wen, 2018. "Managerial foreign experience and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 752-770.
    23. Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), 2010. "Handbook of the Economics of Innovation," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    24. Chemmanur, Thomas J. & Kong, Lei & Krishnan, Karthik & Yu, Qianqian, 2019. "Top Management Human Capital, Inventor Mobility, and Corporate Innovation," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 54(6), pages 2383-2422, December.
    25. Charles J. Hadlock & Joshua R. Pierce, 2010. "New Evidence on Measuring Financial Constraints: Moving Beyond the KZ Index," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(5), pages 1909-1940.
    26. Faleye, Olubunmi & Kovacs, Tunde & Venkateswaran, Anand, 2014. "Do Better-Connected CEOs Innovate More?," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 49(5-6), pages 1201-1225, December.
    27. Kedia, Simi & Rajgopal, Shiva, 2009. "Neighborhood matters: The impact of location on broad based stock option plans," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(1), pages 109-127, April.
    28. Gustavo Manso, 2011. "Motivating Innovation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(5), pages 1823-1860, October.
    29. Holmstrom, Bengt, 1989. "Agency costs and innovation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 305-327, December.
    30. Gao, Huasheng & Hsu, Po-Hsuan & Li, Kai, 2018. "Innovation Strategy of Private Firms," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(1), pages 1-32, February.
    31. Sheng-Syan Chen & Keng-Yu Ho & Po-Hsin Ho, 2014. "CEO Overconfidence and Long-Term Performance Following R&D Increases," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 43(2), pages 245-269, June.
    32. Chemmanur, Thomas J. & Jiao, Yawen, 2012. "Dual class IPOs: A theoretical analysis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 305-319.
    33. O’Connor, Matthew & Rafferty, Matthew, 2012. "Corporate Governance and Innovation," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(2), pages 397-413, April.
    34. Gary S. Becker, 1962. "Investment in Human Capital: A Theoretical Analysis," NBER Chapters, in: Investment in Human Beings, pages 9-49, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    35. Luong, Hoang & Moshirian, Fariborz & Nguyen, Lily & Tian, Xuan & Zhang, Bohui, 2017. "How Do Foreign Institutional Investors Enhance Firm Innovation?," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(4), pages 1449-1490, August.
    36. Hirshleifer, David & Hsu, Po-Hsuan & Li, Dongmei, 2013. "Innovative efficiency and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(3), pages 632-654.
    37. Lin, Chen & Lin, Ping & Song, Frank M. & Li, Chuntao, 2011. "Managerial incentives, CEO characteristics and corporate innovation in China's private sector," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 176-190, June.
    38. Gennaro Bernile & Vineet Bhagwat & P. Raghavendra Rau, 2017. "What Doesn't Kill You Will Only Make You More Risk-Loving: Early-Life Disasters and CEO Behavior," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(1), pages 167-206, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lo, Dic & Gao, Ling & Lin, Yuchen, 2022. "State ownership and innovations: Lessons from the mixed-ownership reforms of China's listed companies," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 302-314.
    2. Yun Song & Hongqu He & Caiyu Yan, 2022. "Impacts of top management team fault‐line on firm's innovation—Financial slack over‐investment and underinvestment," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(8), pages 3348-3360, December.
    3. Chuan Zhang & Lixia Liu, 2022. "Authorized patents and total factor productivity under intensified market competition: Quasi‐natural experimental evidence from China," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(8), pages 3576-3592, December.
    4. Cheng, Yuanyuan & Du, Kerui & Yao, Xin, 2023. "Stringent environmental regulation and inconsistent green innovation behavior: Evidence from air pollution prevention and control action plan in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    5. Wen, Jun & Zhang, Sen & Chang, Chun-Ping, 2022. "Legal origins and innovation: Global evidence," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    6. Rui Zhu & Kaili Ma & Xiyu Chen & Jingjing Zhao, 2024. "Air Pollution and Corporate Innovation: Does Top Management Quality Mediate and Government Talent Policy Moderate?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-25, September.
    7. Li, Yafei & Mbanyele, William & Sun, Jinping, 2022. "Managerial R&D hands-on experience, state ownership, and corporate innovation," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lily Nguyen & Le Vu & Xiangkang Yin, 2021. "Share repurchases and firm innovation," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(S1), pages 1665-1695, April.
    2. Kong, Dongmin & Wang, Yanan & Zhang, Jian, 2020. "Efficiency wages as gift exchange: Evidence from corporate innovation in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    3. Qing Wan & Xiaoke Cheng & Kam C. Chan & Shenghao Gao, 2021. "Born to innovate? The birth‐order effect of CEOs on corporate innovation," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(9-10), pages 1846-1888, October.
    4. Pang, Caiji & Wang, Ying, 2020. "Stock pledge, risk of losing control and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    5. Hasan, Iftekhar & (Stan) Hoi, Chun-Keung & Wu, Qiang & Zhang, Hao, 2020. "Is social capital associated with corporate innovation? Evidence from publicly listed firms in the U.S," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    6. Yang, Huan, 2021. "Institutional dual holdings and risk-shifting: Evidence from corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    7. Liu, Guanchun & Lu, Di & Yang, Jinyu, 2023. "Innovation for promotion: The effect of executive involvement on inventors' innovation choice," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    8. Nguyen, Lily & Vu, Le & Yin, Xiangkang, 2020. "The undesirable effect of audit quality: Evidence from firm innovation," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(6).
    9. Zhang, Ping & Wang, Yiru & Gao, Jieying, 2023. "Going public and innovation: Evidence from the ChiNext stock market," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 586-613.
    10. Zhang, Mao & Wang, Yiming & Zhao, Qifeng, 2020. "Does participating in the standards-setting process promote innovation? Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    11. Francis, Bill & Mani, Suresh Babu & Sharma, Zenu & Wu, Qiang, 2021. "The impact of organization capital on firm innovation," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    12. Ching-Hung Chang & Qingqing Wu, 2021. "Board Networks and Corporate Innovation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(6), pages 3618-3654, June.
    13. Ding, Xiaoya (Sara) & Guo, Mengmeng & Kuai, Yicheng & Niu, Geng, 2023. "Social trust and firm innovation: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 474-493.
    14. Gu, Yuqi & Zhang, Ling, 2017. "The impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on corporate innovation," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 17-30.
    15. Moshirian, Fariborz & Tian, Xuan & Zhang, Bohui & Zhang, Wenrui, 2021. "Stock market liberalization and innovation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(3), pages 985-1014.
    16. Wang, Jimin & Ho, Choy Yeing (Chloe) & Shan, Yuan George, 2024. "Does cybersecurity risk stifle corporate innovation activities?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    17. Pham, Mia Hang & Merkoulova, Yulia & Veld, Chris, 2024. "Award-winning CEOs and corporate innovation," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    18. Gordon, Elizabeth A. & Hsu, Hsiao-Tang & Huang, Huichi, 2020. "Peer R&D disclosure and corporate innovation: Evidence from American depositary receipt firms," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    19. Zhang, Ping & Wang, Yiru, 2023. "The bright side of analyst coverage on corporate innovation: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    20. Huang, Yi-Hou & Liang, Woan-lih & Truong, Quang-Thai & Wang, Yanzhi, 2022. "No new tricks for old dogs? Old directors and innovation performance," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Innovation; Management quality; Failure tolerance; Financial constraints;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • M12 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Personnel Management; Executives; Executive Compensation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:65:y:2021:i:c:s1043951x20301590. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/chieco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.