创新注意力转移、研发投入跳跃与企业绩效——来自中国A股上市公司的经验证据

Innovation Attention Shift, R&D Spending Leap and Firm Performance: Evidence from China

研发投入方式对企业获取和维持竞争优势至关重要。基于间断平衡理论和注意力基础观,运用2007-2013年中国374家上市公司数据,结合事件研究法和文本分析法,实证分析研发投入跳跃对企业绩效的影响、高管团队创新注意力转移对企业研发投入跳跃的影响以及组织冗余的调节作用。研究表明,研发投入跳跃与企业绩效正相关;高管团队注意力从利用式创新到探索式创新的转移与研发投入正向跳跃正相关,组织冗余正向调节该关系;高管团队注意力从探索式创新到利用式创新的转移与研发投入负向跳跃正相关,组织冗余负向调节该关系。研究结果对企业选择合适的研发投入方式以提高企业绩效有积极的指导作用。

How to make R＆D spending effectively is crucial for firms to gain and sustain competitive advantage. Although Mudambi and Swift（2014） introduce and define R＆D spending leap, we contribute to divide R＆D spending leap into upward and downward R＆D spending leaps. Further, according to the attention-based view of firm and the punctuated equilibrium theory, using the dataset of 374 listed firms in China from 2007 to 2013, combining event study method and the text analysis method, we empirically investigate cognition antecedents of both upward and downward R＆D spending leaps and their performance consequence. Results show that 1） Both upward and downward R＆D spending leaps positively influence firm performance, which suggests that not only the upward R＆D spending leap by dramatic increasing R＆D spending can improve firm performance, but also the downward R＆D spending leap by dramatic decreasing R＆D spending is an effective way to improve firm performance in terms of the punctuated equilibrium theory. 2） The innovation attention shift away from exploitation to exploration leads to upward R＆D spending leap, and the relationship is stronger in firms with more organizational slack, which implies that the innovation attention shift away from exploitation to exploration is the main cause for upward R＆D spending leap, and organizational slack strengthens this effect by helping the innovation attention shift effectively. 3） The innovation attention shift away from exploration to exploitation contributes to downward R＆D spending leap, and the relationship is weaker in the firms with more organizational slack, which suggests the innovation attention shift away from exploration to exploitation is the main cause for downward R＆D spending leap, and organizational slack provides negative conditions to the effect of the innovation attention shift away from exploration to exploitation on downward R＆D spending leap. These conclusions play important roles in choosing the right way of conducting R＆D spending to improve firm performance.