CEO Characteristics,policy Uncertainty And Corporate R&D Investment Behavior

Due to reform and opening up policy,China has developed into the second largest economy in the world.China has become the main driving force of global economic growth,and this success is partly due to the support of government policies.Policies not only have an impact on macro levels such as GDP,consumption and exports,but also provide a continuous source for sustainable development of corporates.The formulation and implementation of policies are the key to ensure rapid economic growth.However,frequent formulation and implementation also lead to an increase in policy uncertainty.Under the background of economic globalization,corporates face a complex economic environment at home and abroad,and frequent policy fluctuations will exacerbate the uncertainty of external environment.Corporates are the main body of value creation,and innovation is the key to its success in global competition.When corporates gain their investment in R&D,the speed of product replacement is further accelerated,which can make them meet the needs of competitive markets better.This cannot be separated from the support of policies.Therefore,an important factor affecting R&D investment is the volatility of policy environment where corporates locate.At present,China is in a period of economic transition.Under such an environment,it is vital to research the impact of policy uncertainty on corporate R&D investment.This dissertation is based on Principal-Agent Theory,Real Option Theory and Financial Friction Theory,and combine with related research of policy uncertainty.It studies the following two questions:(1)The impact of policy uncertainty on Corporate R&D investment-—the existence and the channels;(2)The moderating role of CEO characteristics in the process of policy uncertainty affecting corporate R&D investment.Data in this dissertation are from Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies between 2011 to 2018.It uses regression methods to test the hypothesises.In order to ensure the robustness of the results,this dissertation uses three robust test methods: expanding sample interval,changing variable measurement and replacing the regression model.The conclusions include the following parts:(1)Policy uncertainty has a significant negative impact on corporate R&D investment.(2)Policy uncertainty can affect corporate R&D investment through real option channel and financial friction channel.Corporates with a larger proportion of fixed assets have a greater negative impact of policy uncertainty on corporate R&D investment.Firms with sufficient cash flow have a weaker negative impact on corporate R&D investment.(3)There is a critical level of CEO share.Below this critical level,the higher CEO Share ratio,the weaker negative impact of policy uncertainty on corporate R&D investment.Above this critical level,the higher CEO Share ratio,the stronger negative impact of policy uncertainty on corporate R&D investment.The longer CEO tenure,the stronger negative impact of policy uncertainty on corporate R&D investment.CEOs have the background of serving in government departments can make negative impact of policy uncertainty on corporate R&D investment weaker.CEO with high education can make negative impact of policy uncertainty on corporate R&D investment weaker.