The Influence Of Board Diversity On R&D Investment:Moderating Effect Of Ownership Concentration

All fields of the wor-ld have been actively promoting the development of innovative technology since the 21st century,to march toward an innovative country by enhancing the country’s economic soft power.L:isted companies,as the backbone of China’s scientific and technological progress and development,can further realize China’s dream of becoming an innovative power only by unremittingly strengthening their technological innovation capabilities.As the organization steering the company’s strategic direction and making decision-making plans,the board of directors will have a significant impact on the enterprise’s R&D and innovation investment.Therefore,how to effectively improve the ratio and efficiency of R&D investment from the perspective of board governance has becorme the focus issue in both theoretical and practical circles.This paper attempts to break thrOough the research limitation of existing GEM listed companies,reveal the influence mechanism of board members’characteristics on the R&D investment intensity of enterprises,and consider whether the characteristics of different ownership concentration will be related to the board diversity and corporate R&D investment intensity,which attempts to provide new insights into the efficiency of investment decision-making for GEM listed companies.From the perspective of the board composition,this paper divides the diversity of the board into gender,age,education background,professional background and financial background diversity.The characteristics of the board members of 720 GEM listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2009 to 2017 were collected through CSMAR and other databases as research samples,and variables such as board diversity index,enterprise R&D investment and ownership concentration were constructed.Combined with a series of theoretical basis,a research hypothesis is proposed in this study after a large quantity of literature combined with theoretical analysis.A multivariate linear regression model was constructed to empirically test the relationship between board diversity and R&D investment intensity and the moderating effect of ownership concentration on both.The empir~ical results show that the diversity of the board of directors has positive,negative or inverted U-shaped influence on the R&D investment of enterprises,while the ownership concentration degree has a significant weakening effect on the relationship between the board diversity and the R&D investment of enterprises.Based on the above research conclusions,this paper believes that in the process of board building of GEM listed companies in China,attention should be paid to the enrichment of age groups and the addition of outstanding talents who can bring social and financial resources to enterprises.At the same time,while paying attention to the diversity of the board of directors,we should also focus on the negative impact of the conflicts caused by the differences in educational level and professional background of the members on the investment decision of the company’s research and development.By establishing policies or articles of association,we can promote a better operation of the board of directors,advance enterprise innovation and set up the development to a higher level.