期权激励会促进公司创新吗?——基于中国上市公司专利产出的证据

Does Stock Option Promote Firm Innovation? Evidence from Chinese Listed Firms' Patenting

本文利用倾向得分匹配和双重差分法,考察了2006-2011年期间我国上市公司实施期权激励对企业创新的影响。结果显示,期权激励提高了企业的专利产出,其增加幅度高达30%;本文进一步发现,期权激励对创新的促进作用分别在非国有企业、基金持股较多的企业、期权行权期较长的企业和高管期权授予相对规模较大的企业中更加明显。本文为理解期权激励制度的合理性提供了新的视角,对于希望提升公司创新的政策制定者和公司决策者都具有一定的参考价值。

Using panel data of Chinese listed firms from 2006 to 2011 and applying both the Difference -in - Difference approach and Propensity Score Matching method, we investigate the effect of stock option compensation on firm innovation. Our empirical results show that the adoption of stock option compensation promotes firm patenting and the increasing is more than 30%. We further find that this effect is more pronounced for non -SOEs,＇ firms with higher mutual fund ownership, firms with longer option duration, and firms with heavier weight on top management. Our paper sheds light on the rationale of stock option compensation and has important implications for policy makers who aim to stimulate innovation.