IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i15p4153-d253728.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Financial Constraints and R&D Investment: The Moderating Role of CEO Characteristics

Author

Listed:
  • Ximing Yin

    (School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China)

  • Ben-lu Hai

    (Business School, Henan Normal University, Henan 453007, China)

  • Jin Chen

    (School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China)

Abstract

How CEOs with different characteristics act differently on R&D investment under the condition of financial constraints is an important but understudied question towards firms’ sustainable innovation. Employing the dataset from China-Enterprise Survey 2012 of the World Bank, this study tests the impact of financial constraints on firms’ R&D investment and the moderating role of CEO characteristics. Empirical results show that: (1) firm’s financial constraints have a significant restricting effect on their R&D investment; (2) internal financial constraints have no significant restricting effect on R&D investment for firms with female CEOs in comparison with firms with male CEOs, while the external financial constraints have a significant restricting effect on R&D investment for both groups. (3) CEO experience has a non-linear moderating effect on the relationship between financial constraints and a firm’s R&D investment. When the accumulated experience is overloaded, the positive moderating effect of CEO experience begins to decline and even become negative. Robustness tests further confirm these empirical findings. This study directly contributes to the literature of financing innovation and top management team’s impact on firms’ sustainable innovation, and generates insights on firms’ R&D management under the condition of financial constraints.

Suggested Citation

  • Ximing Yin & Ben-lu Hai & Jin Chen, 2019. "Financial Constraints and R&D Investment: The Moderating Role of CEO Characteristics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-18, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:15:p:4153-:d:253728
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/15/4153/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/15/4153/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Harjoto, Maretno A. & Laksmana, Indrarini & Yang, Ya-wen, 2018. "Board diversity and corporate investment oversight," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 40-47.
    2. Dang, Chongyu & (Frank) Li, Zhichuan & Yang, Chen, 2018. "Measuring firm size in empirical corporate finance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 159-176.
    3. Li, Zhichuan Frank & Lin, Shannon & Sun, Shuna & Tucker, Alan, 2018. "Risk-adjusted inside debt," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 12-42.
    4. 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.
    5. Juan A. Máñez & María E. Rochina-Barrachina & Juan A. Sanchis-Llopis & Óscar Vicente, 2014. "Financial constraints and R&D and exporting strategies for Spanish manufacturing firms," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 23(6), pages 1563-1594.
    6. García-Quevedo, José & Segarra-Blasco, Agustí & Teruel, Mercedes, 2018. "Financial constraints and the failure of innovation projects," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 127-140.
    7. Lu, Yue & Shi, Huimin & Luo, Wei & Liu, Bin, 2018. "Productivity, financial constraints, and firms' global value chain participation: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 184-194.
    8. Inessa Love, 2003. "Financial Development and Financing Constraints: International Evidence from the Structural Investment Model," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 16(3), pages 765-791, July.
    9. Hall, Bronwyn H. & Lerner, Josh, 2010. "The Financing of R&D and Innovation," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 609-639, Elsevier.
    10. Hsu, Po-Hsuan & Tian, Xuan & Xu, Yan, 2014. "Financial development and innovation: Cross-country evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(1), pages 116-135.
    11. Muriel Niederle & Carmit Segal & Lise Vesterlund, 2013. "How Costly Is Diversity? Affirmative Action in Light of Gender Differences in Competitiveness," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(1), pages 1-16, May.
    12. 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.
    13. Alexandra Zbuchea & Florina Pînzaru & Mihail Busu & Sergiu-Octavian Stan & Alina Bârgăoanu, 2019. "Sustainable Knowledge Management and Its Impact on the Performances of Biotechnology Organizations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-20, January.
    14. Sabrina T. Howell, 2017. "Financing Innovation: Evidence from R&D Grants," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(4), pages 1136-1164, April.
    15. Steven M. Fazzari & R. Glenn Hubbard & Bruce C. Petersen, 1988. "Financing Constraints and Corporate Investment," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 19(1), pages 141-206.
    16. Core, John & Guay, Wayne, 1999. "The use of equity grants to manage optimal equity incentive levels," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 151-184, December.
    17. Alberto Galasso & Timothy S. Simcoe, 2011. "CEO Overconfidence and Innovation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(8), pages 1469-1484, August.
    18. Prithwiraj Choudhury & Martine R. Haas, 2018. "Scope versus speed: Team diversity, leader experience, and patenting outcomes for firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(4), pages 977-1002, April.
    19. Brown, James R. & Martinsson, Gustav & Petersen, Bruce C., 2012. "Do financing constraints matter for R&D?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(8), pages 1512-1529.
    20. Huang, Jiekun & Kisgen, Darren J., 2013. "Gender and corporate finance: Are male executives overconfident relative to female executives?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(3), pages 822-839.
    21. Charness, Gary & Gneezy, Uri, 2012. "Strong Evidence for Gender Differences in Risk Taking," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 50-58.
    22. Hyytinen, Ari & Toivanen, Otto, 2005. "Do financial constraints hold back innovation and growth?: Evidence on the role of public policy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 1385-1403, November.
    23. 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.
    24. Guariglia, Alessandra & Liu, Pei, 2014. "To what extent do financing constraints affect Chinese firms' innovation activities?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 223-240.
    25. Howell, Anthony, 2016. "Firm R&D, innovation and easing financial constraints in China: Does corporate tax reform matter?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(10), pages 1996-2007.
    26. Dirk Czarnitzki & Hanna Hottenrott, 2011. "R&D investment and financing constraints of small and medium-sized firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 65-83, January.
    27. Meghana Ayyagari & Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Vojislav Maksimovic, 2010. "Formal versus Informal Finance: Evidence from China," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(8), pages 3048-3097, August.
    28. Kenneth J. Kopecky & Zhichuan (Frank) Li & Timothy F. Sugrue & Alan L. Tucker, 2018. "Revisiting M&M with Taxes: An Alternative Equilibrating Process," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-12, January.
    29. 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.
    30. ., 2017. "A General Theory of Economic Development," Chapters, in: A General Theory of Economic Development, chapter 7, pages 115-150, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    31. William D. Berry & Jacqueline H. R. DeMeritt & Justin Esarey, 2010. "Testing for Interaction in Binary Logit and Probit Models: Is a Product Term Essential?," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(1), pages 248-266, January.
    32. Szopik-Depczyńska, Katarzyna & Kędzierska-Szczepaniak, Angelika & Szczepaniak, Krzysztof & Cheba, Katarzyna & Gajda, Waldemar & Ioppolo, Giuseppe, 2018. "Innovation in sustainable development: an investigation of the EU context using 2030 agenda indicators," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 251-262.
    33. ., 2017. "A general theory of infrastructure and economic development," Chapters, in: Time, Space and Capital, chapter 8, pages 158-173, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    34. Klaus E Meyer & Mike W Peng, 2016. "Theoretical foundations of emerging economy business research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 47(1), pages 3-22, January.
    35. Won-Yong Oh & Young Kyun Chang & Zheng Cheng, 2016. "When CEO Career Horizon Problems Matter for Corporate Social Responsibility: The Moderating Roles of Industry-Level Discretion and Blockholder Ownership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(2), pages 279-291, January.
    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. Kang Sung Hur & Dong Hyun Kim & Joon Hei Cheung, 2019. "Managerial Overconfidence and Cost Behavior of R&D Expenditures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-13, September.
    2. Yi Shen & Qingsong Ruan, 2022. "Accounting Conservatism, R&D Manipulation, and Corporate Innovation: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-25, July.
    3. Benlu Hai & Ximing Yin & Jie Xiong & Jin Chen, 2022. "Could more innovation output bring better financial performance? The role of financial constraints," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-26, December.
    4. Chuanyi Wang & Jiale Yang & Zhe Cheng & Chaoqun Ni, 2019. "Postgraduate Education of Board Members and R&D Investment—Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-17, November.
    5. Tong Tong & Norzalina Binti Zainudin & Jingwen Yan & Azmawani Abd Rahman, 2023. "The Impact of Industry Clusters on the Performance of High Technology Small and Middle Size Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-16, June.

    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. Francesco Aiello & Graziella Bonanno & Stefania Patrizia Sonia Rossi, 2019. "Risk Aversion And Entrepreneurship: Financing Innovation For Smes Across Europe. Evidence From Multilevel Models," Working Papers 201902, Università della Calabria, Dipartimento di Economia, Statistica e Finanza "Giovanni Anania" - DESF.
    2. Muhammad Kaleem Khan & Ahmad Kaleem & Salman Zulfiqar & Umair Akram, 2019. "Innovation Investment: Behaviour Of Chinese Firms Towards Financing Sources," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(07), pages 1-29, October.
    3. Sasidharan, Subash & Jijo Lukose, P.J. & Komera, Surenderrao, 2015. "Financing constraints and investments in R&D: Evidence from Indian manufacturing firms," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 28-39.
    4. Francesco Aiello & Graziella Bonanno & Stefania P. S. Rossi, 2020. "How firms finance innovation. Further empirics from European SMEs," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(4), pages 689-714, November.
    5. Liu, Duan & Zhou, Qianzhen & Chen, Shiqi & Wan, Hong & He, Hongbo, 2021. "Capital market access and innovation efficiency: A natural experiment from China’s pilot VAT reform in 2012," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 549-566.
    6. Xiang, Xiaojian & Liu, Chuanjiang & Yang, Mian, 2022. "Who is financing corporate green innovation?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 321-337.
    7. Kou, Mingting & Yang, Yuanqi & Chen, Kaihua, 2020. "The impact of external R&D financing on innovation process from a supply-demand perspective," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 375-387.
    8. Xinxin Zhao & Zongjun Wang & Min Deng, 2019. "Interest Rate Marketization, Financing Constraints and R&D Investments: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-17, April.
    9. Bernardina Algieri & Antonio Aquino & Marianna Succurro, 2020. "The Impact of Cash-Flow and the Main Components of the Capital Structure on Innovative Performances of European Firms," Review of Economics and Institutions, Università di Perugia, vol. 11(1-2).
    10. Georgios Efthyvoulou & Priit Vahter, 2016. "Financial Constraints, Innovation Performance and Sectoral Disaggregation," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 84(2), pages 125-158, March.
    11. Malik, Muhammad Farhan & Nowland, John & Buckby, Sherrena, 2021. "Voluntary adoption of board risk committees and financial constraints risk," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    12. Edoardo Ferrucci & Roberto Guida & Valentina Meliciani, 2021. "Financial constraints and the growth and survival of innovative start‐ups: An analysis of Italian firms," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 27(2), pages 364-386, March.
    13. Maria Luisa Mancusi & Andrea Vezzulli, 2014. "R&D AND CREDIT RATIONING IN SMEs," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 52(3), pages 1153-1172, July.
    14. Yan Li & Md. Main Uddin & Ye An, 2020. "Has financial development benefited the performance of publicly traded cultural and creative firms? Evidence from China," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 44(3), pages 351-395, September.
    15. Brown, James R. & Floros, Ioannis V., 2012. "Access to private equity and real firm activity: Evidence from PIPEs," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 151-165.
    16. Sasan Bakhtiari & Robert Breunig & Lisa Magnani & Jacquelyn Zhang, 2020. "Financial Constraints and Small and Medium Enterprises: A Review," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 96(315), pages 506-523, December.
    17. Silva Filipe & Carreira Carlos, 2017. "Financial Constraints: Do They Matter to Allocate R&D Subsidies?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 17(4), pages 1-26, October.
    18. Liu, Duan & Li, Zhiyuan & He, Hongbo & Hou, Wenxuan, 2021. "The determinants of R&D smoothing with asset sales: Evidence from R&D-intensive firms in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 76-93.
    19. Langzi Chen & Zhihong Chen & Jian Li, 2019. "Can Trade Credit Maintain Sustainable R&D Investment of SMEs?—Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-16, February.
    20. Knoll, Bodo & Riedel, Nadine & Schwab, Thomas & Todtenhaupt, Maximilian & Voget, Johannes, 2021. "Cross-border effects of R&D tax incentives," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(9).

    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:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:15:p:4153-:d:253728. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.