IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v115y2020icp289-295.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corporate governance and R&D investment by European listed companies

Author

Listed:
  • Rodrigues, Ricardo
  • Samagaio, António
  • Felício, Teresa

Abstract

The positive effects of R&D investment on innovation, productivity, and sustainability are well documented. However, findings regarding the impact of corporate governance on R&D investment are mixed, despite arguments supporting the role of governance mechanisms in solving agency problems. This study focuses on the relationship between governance mechanisms and R&D investment using a sample of large companies listed in European countries. The data cover the period from 2002 to 2013. These data are analyzed using an econometric panel data method and the recently developed method of panel data fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. The results reveal the importance of institutional context and highlight the configurations of governance mechanisms that lead to high and low levels of R&D investment. These findings are relevant for companies aiming to adopt the most suitable governance mechanisms to pursue their R&D objectives and for policymakers interested in promoting R&D investment.

Suggested Citation

  • Rodrigues, Ricardo & Samagaio, António & Felício, Teresa, 2020. "Corporate governance and R&D investment by European listed companies," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 289-295.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:115:y:2020:i:c:p:289-295
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.11.070
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296319307453
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.11.070?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. Guedes, Maria João & da Conceição Gonçalves, Vítor & Soares, Nuno & Valente, Marieta, 2016. "UK evidence for the determinants of R&D intensity from a panel fsQCA," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 5431-5436.
    2. Michael C. Jensen, 2010. "The Modern Industrial Revolution, Exit, and the Failure of Internal Control Systems," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 22(1), pages 43-58, January.
    3. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    4. Pathan, Shams, 2009. "Strong boards, CEO power and bank risk-taking," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 1340-1350, July.
    5. Seitz, Michael & Watzinger, Martin, 2017. "Contract enforcement and R&D investment," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 182-195.
    6. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    7. Jarrell, Gregg A. & Poulsen, Annette B., 1988. "Dual-class recapitalizations as antitakeover mechanisms : The recent evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 129-152, January.
    8. Yermack, David, 1996. "Higher market valuation of companies with a small board of directors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 185-211, February.
    9. Juan Manuel García Lara & Beatriz García Osma & Araceli Mora, 2005. "The Effect of Earnings Management on the Asymmetric Timeliness of Earnings," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3‐4), pages 691-726, April.
    10. Kose John & Lubomir Litov & Bernard Yeung, 2008. "Corporate Governance and Risk‐Taking," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(4), pages 1679-1728, August.
    11. Beatriz Garcia Osma, 2008. "Board Independence and Real Earnings Management: The Case of R&D Expenditure," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(2), pages 116-131, March.
    12. Honoré, Florence & Munari, Federico & van Pottelsberghe de La Potterie, Bruno, 2015. "Corporate governance practices and companies’ R&D intensity: Evidence from European countries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 533-543.
    13. Charles W. L. Hill & Scott A. Snell, 1988. "External control, corporate strategy, and firm performance in research‐intensive industries," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(6), pages 577-590, November.
    14. Matos, Pedro Verga & Faustino, Horácio C., 2012. "Beta-convergence and sigma-convergence in corporate governance in Europe," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 2198-2204.
    15. Chu, Wai-Kwong & Yang, Nien-Tzu & Yang, Sheng-Yung, 2016. "Corporate governance’ impact on research and development," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 2239-2243.
    16. Demsetz, Harold, 1983. "The Structure of Ownership and the Theory of the Firm," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 375-390, June.
    17. Lu, Jun & Wang, Wei, 2015. "Board independence and corporate investments," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 52-64.
    18. La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 2000. "Investor protection and corporate governance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1-2), pages 3-27.
    19. Lv, David Diwei & Chen, Weihong & Zhu, Hang & Lan, Hailin, 2019. "How does inconsistent negative performance feedback affect the R&D investments of firms? A study of publicly listed firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 151-162.
    20. 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.
    21. Wu, Jianfeng & Tu, Rungting, 2007. "CEO stock option pay and R&D spending: a behavioral agency explanation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(5), pages 482-492, May.
    22. Leuz, Christian & Nanda, Dhananjay & Wysocki, Peter D., 2003. "Earnings management and investor protection: an international comparison," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 505-527, September.
    23. Driver, Ciaran & Guedes, Maria João Coelho, 2012. "Research and development, cash flow, agency and governance: UK large companies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(9), pages 1565-1577.
    24. Melinda Muth & Lex Donaldson, 1998. "Stewardship Theory and Board Structure: a contingency approach," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(1), pages 5-28, January.
    25. Cheng, Shijun, 2008. "Board size and the variability of corporate performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 157-176, January.
    26. Richard Makadok, 2003. "Doing the right thing and knowing the right thing to do: why the whole is greater than the sum of the parts," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(10), pages 1043-1055, October.
    27. Sascha L. Schmidt & Matthias Brauer, 2006. "Strategic Governance: how to assess board effectiveness in guiding strategy execution," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(1), pages 13-22, January.
    28. Wintoki, M. Babajide & Linck, James S. & Netter, Jeffry M., 2012. "Endogeneity and the dynamics of internal corporate governance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(3), pages 581-606.
    29. Johnson, Mark S & Rao, Ramesh P, 1997. "The Impact of Antitakeover Amendments on Corporate Financial Performance," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 32(4), pages 659-689, November.
    30. Jarrell, Gregg A & Brickley, James A & Netter, Jeffry M, 1988. "The Market for Corporate Control: The Empirical Evidence Since 1980," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 2(1), pages 49-68, Winter.
    31. Marc Steffen Rapp & Iuliia A. Udoieva, 2017. "Corporate Governance and Its Impact on R&D Investment in Emerging Markets," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(10), pages 2159-2178, October.
    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. Li, Junbao & Shi, Zhanzhong & He, Chengying & Lv, Chengshuang, 2023. "Peer effects on corporate R&D investment policies: A spatial panel model approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    2. Shui, Xiaolong & Zhang, Minhao & Smart, Palie & Ye, Fei, 2022. "Sustainable corporate governance for environmental innovation: A configurational analysis on board capital, CEO power and ownership structure," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 786-794.
    3. Shao, Chuanlin & Tao, Yunqing & Chen, Dong & Ye, Yongwei, 2023. "Curse or blessing: National industrial investment fund and corporate R&D in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    4. Jiang, Kangqi & Chen, Zhongfei & Rughoo, Aarti & Zhou, Mengling, 2022. "Internet finance and corporate investment: Evidence from China," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    5. Estevão, João & Lopes, José Dias & Penela, Daniela, 2023. "SDG9 and the competitiveness: Employing mixed methods to understand how countries can use science to compete," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    6. Yu, Lin & Bai, Tao & Yin, Jingwei & Tan, Xue, 2024. "Overcoming the liability of origin by hiring foreign independent directors: Evidence from Chinese firms' cross-border M&As," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 59(2).
    7. Jiarui Wang & Rong Cao & Gang Wang & Xuhui Peng, 2024. "Research on the Configuration Path of Innovation Performance of Strategic Emerging Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-25, October.
    8. Linyan Wang & Haiqing Hu & Xianzhu Wang & Xincheng Zhang & Hao Sun, 2022. "Spatiotemporal Evolution and Cause Analysis of Urban Housing Investment Resilience: An Empirical Study of 35 Large and Medium-Sized Cities in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-20, October.
    9. Ana Santos & Ana Bandeira & Patrícia Ramos, 2024. "The Impact of Research and Development Investment on the Performance of Portuguese Companies," Risks, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-13, August.
    10. Chen, Zhongfei & Xie, Guanxia, 2022. "ESG disclosure and financial performance: Moderating role of ESG investors," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    11. Gao, Feiyang & Tao, Yunqing & Chen, Dong & Cao, Yuyang, 2023. "Stringent financial regulation and corporate R&D investment: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PB).
    12. Xue-Zhou Zhao & Jun Chen & Feng-Wen Chen & Wei Wang & Senmao Xia, 2020. "How High-Polluting Firms Suffer from Being Distracted form Intended Purpose: A Corporate Social Responsibility Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-29, December.
    13. Xuhong Zhang & Haiqing Hu & Cheng Zhou & Erwei Dong, 2024. "Is a Rural Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Conducive to the Improvement of Entrepreneurial Performance? Evidence from Typical Counties of Rural Entrepreneurship and Innovation in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-21, November.
    14. Estevão, João & Lopes, José Dias & Penela, Daniela, 2022. "The importance of the business environment for the informal economy: Evidence from the Doing Business ranking," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    15. Song, Xinyu & Yang, Baochen, 2022. "Oil price uncertainty, corporate governance and firm performance," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 469-487.
    16. Ginesti, Gianluca & Campa, Domenico & Spano’, Rosanna & Allini, Alessandra & Maffei, Marco, 2023. "The role of CSR committee characteristics on R&D investments," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(5).
    17. Yuan, Dongliang & Shang, Duo & Ma, Yufei & Li, Dehui, 2022. "The Spillover Effects of Peer Annual Report Tone for Firm Innovation Investment: Evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    18. Hu, Baiye & Hong, Gang, 2023. "Management equity incentives, R&D investment on corporate green innovation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PD).

    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. 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.
    2. Honoré, Florence & Munari, Federico & van Pottelsberghe de La Potterie, Bruno, 2015. "Corporate governance practices and companies’ R&D intensity: Evidence from European countries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 533-543.
    3. Hussein Abedi Shamsabadi & Byung-Seong Min & Richard Chung, 2016. "Corporate governance and dividend strategy: lessons from Australia," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(5), pages 583-610, October.
    4. Goergen, Marc & Manjon, Miguel C. & Renneboog, Luc, 2008. "Recent developments in German corporate governance," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 175-193, September.
    5. Naeem Tabassum & Satwinder Singh, 2020. "Corporate Governance and Organisational Performance," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-030-48527-6, June.
    6. Addo, Kwabena Aboah & Hussain, Nazim & Iqbal, Jamshed, 2021. "Corporate Governance and Banking Systemic Risk: A Test of the Bundling Hypothesis," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    7. Nguyen, Tuan & Locke, Stuart & Reddy, Krishna, 2014. "A dynamic estimation of governance structures and financial performance for Singaporean companies," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 1-11.
    8. Aziz Jaafar & Lynn Hodgkinson & Mao-Feng Kao, 2019. "Ownership Structure, Board of Directors and Firm Performance: Evidence from Taiwan," Working Papers 19011, Bangor Business School, Prifysgol Bangor University (Cymru / Wales).
    9. Khosa,Amrinder & Ahmed,Kamran & Henry,Darren, 2019. "Ownership Structure, Related Party Transactions, and Firm Valuation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108492195, November.
    10. Shkendije Himaj, 2014. "Corporate Governance in Banks and its Impact on Risk and Performance: Review of Literature on the Selected Governance Mechanisms," Journal of Central Banking Theory and Practice, Central bank of Montenegro, vol. 3(3), pages 53-85.
    11. Chari, Murali D.R. & David, Parthiban & Duru, Augustine & Zhao, Yijiang, 2019. "Bowman's risk-return paradox: An agency theory perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 357-375.
    12. Guney, Yilmaz & Karpuz, Ahmet & Komba, Gabriel, 2020. "The effects of board structure on corporate performance: Evidence from East African frontier markets," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    13. Almaskati, Nawaf & Bird, Ron & Yeung, Danny & Lu, Yue, 2021. "A horse race of models and estimation methods for predicting bankruptcy," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    14. DasGupta, Ranjan & Dhochak, Monika, 2021. "Risk-Antecedents of Firms and Strategic Mediators – New Evidence from a Cross-Country Analysis," American Business Review, Pompea College of Business, University of New Haven, vol. 24(1), pages 3-35, May.
    15. Sugato Chakravarty & Chiraphol N. Chiyachantana & Christine Jiang, 2011. "THE CHOICE OF TRADING VENUE AND RELATIVE PRICE IMPACT OF INSTITUTIONAL TRADING: ADRs VERSUS THE UNDERLYING SECURITIES IN THEIR LOCAL MARKETS," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 34(4), pages 537-567, December.
    16. James, Hui & Benson, Bradley W. & Wu, Chen (Ken), 2017. "Does CEO ownership affect payout policy? Evidence from using CEO scaled wealth-performance sensitivity," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 328-345.
    17. Marc Essen & J. Oosterhout & Michael Carney, 2012. "Corporate boards and the performance of Asian firms: A meta-analysis," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 873-905, December.
    18. Aman, Hiroyuki & Nguyen, Pascal, 2013. "Does good governance matter to debtholders? Evidence from the credit ratings of Japanese firms," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 14-34.
    19. Almaskati, Nawaf & Bird, Ron & Lu, Yue, 2020. "Corporate governance, institutions, markets, and social factors," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    20. An, Suwei, 2023. "Essays on incentive contracts, M&As, and firm risk," Other publications TiSEM dd97d2f5-1c9d-47c5-ba62-f, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.

    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:jbrese:v:115:y:2020:i:c:p:289-295. 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/jbusres .

    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.