Research On The Correlation Between The Characteristics Of Independent Directors And Investment Efficiency Of Listed Companies

Under the modern company system,the separation of ownership and management leads to the agency conflict,which also leads to the inefficient investment of enterprises.The introduction of independent director system is a kind of corporate governance mechanism designed to solve the problem of principal-agent.As an important member of corporate decision-making,the independent director also has the decision function.But few scholars have studied the influence of independent directors on the enterprise investment efficiency,based on the perspective of decision function in the existing literature.This is still a subject worth studying,Whether the independent director can improve the level of enterprise investment decision-making,what kind of independent director can better suppress the inefficiency investment and help the enterprise improve the investment efficiency.Based on the perspective of independent director's decision-making function,this paper studies the relationship between the characteristics of independent directors and enterprise investment efficiency by combining normative study and empirical study.Based on the Principal-agent Theory,Upper Echelons Theory and Resource Dependence Theory,this paper takes the A-share listed non-financial companies listed in Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange from 2013 to 2015 as the study samples,uses the Richardson model to measure enterprise investment efficiency,and divides investment efficiency into inefficiency investment group,overinvestment group and underinvestment group.After the establishment of multiple regression model,regression analysis on the relationship between the nine characteristics of independent directors and the enterprise investment efficiency,such as size,allowance,age,gender,academic qualification,occupational background,major,part-time situation and meeting attendance.Further,according to the different nature of the ultimate controller,the paper divides the sample into two categories:state controlled listed companies and non-state controlled listed companies,and regression analysis on the influence of independent director characteristics on the enterprise investment efficiency in listed companies with different property rights.The main conclusions of this paper are as follows:(1)The underinvestment situation of the listed companies in our country is obviously more than the overinvestment situation.(2)Independent director remuneration has a significant negative correlation with inefficient investment,over-investment and under-investment.It shows that improving the remuneration of independent directors is not only conducive to curb overinvestment,but also to improve the underinvestment situation,and then improve the enterprise investment efficiency.(3)The average age of independent directors has a significant negative correlation with the inefficiency investment and overinvestment,but there is no significant correlation with the underinvestment.It is proved that the appointment of senior independent directors can help enterprises to improve the investment efficiency,which is mainly reflected in reducing the overinvestment,but it is difficult to suppress the underinvestment effectively.(4)The average degree level of independent directors has a significant negative correlation with the inefficiency investment and underinvestment,but there is no significant correlation with the overinvestment,it shows that independent directors who have a higher degree of education are good for restraining the underinvestment of enterprises,and helping enterprises improve investment efficiency,but it is difficult to curb overinvestment.(5)Although there is a negative correlation between The proportion of independent directors with academic career background and the efficiency of investment,the result is not significant.As far as all listed companies are concerned,it is difficult to improve the investment efficiency by improving the proportion of independent directors with academic career background.(6)The part-time number of independent directors has negatively correlation with the inefficiency investment and overinvestment.It shows that the independent directors who work part-time in many companies are able to restrain overinvestment and improve the enterprise investment efficiency.(7)After classifying the sample according to the property,it is found that the characteristics of independent director have different influence on the investment efficiency in listed companies with different property rights.(8)The enterprise investment efficiency has negatively correlation with the scale of independent directors,the proportion of female independent directors,the proportion of independent directors with financial background,meeting attendance in the state controlled companies and the non-state controlled listed companies.On the one hand,the conclusion of this paper has expanded the related study on the corporate governance behavior and economic consequences of independent directors,and has enriched the literature of influencing factors of investment efficiency,which has certain theoretical significance.On the other hand,it is of practical significance to provide reference suggestions for enterprises to hire independent directors,which can help listed companies further improve corporate governance structure and improve investment efficiency.