研发投入、管理层预期与营业成本粘性行为——基于我国A股市场的实证研究

R＆D Investment, Managerial Expectation and Operating Cost Stickiness：An Empirical Study Based on China＇s A-share Market

本文以2006-2014年沪深A股主板非金融业上市公司为样本，研究研发投入和管理层预期对营业成本粘性行为的影响。我们推断，由于研发投入，公司增加了资源调整成本并使管理层形成对未来更乐观的预期，管理层会维持原有的研发投资承诺，进而增加公司的松弛资源，增强成本粘性。研究结果表明：（1）以以前期间销售变化作为代理变量的管理层预期对成本习性产生显著影响，即营业成本会随着以前期间销售变化而呈现不同程度的粘性行为和反粘性趋势；（2）高研发投入的公司比低研发投入的公司具有更强的营业成本粘性；（3）在已知销售降低的情况下，高研发投入的公司比低研发投入的公司会更低程度地削减成本。本文检验了企业研发活动以及管理层预期对成本粘性的影响，为揭示企业成本管理这一“黑箱”以及成本粘性成因提供了新的视角，进一步丰富了成本粘性文献。

This study investigates the impact of a firm＇s research and development invest- ment on cost structure and cost stickiness. We speculate that, a high level of research and de velopment investment increases the level of adjustment costs and drives managers to shape more optimistic expectations regarding future sales growth. Firms with high level of research and development investment will hesitate to remove resources and further increase the slack of their unutilized resources and the degree of cost stickiness. The data sample consists of 11 144 firm-year observations of China＇s A share market for the period 2006 2014. Our empirical findings suggest： （1） managerial expectation has a significant impact on cost stickiness; （2） in the firms with higher research and development investment, operating cost exhibits stronger cost stickiness; （3） managers in the firms with higher level of research and development in- vestment cut costs more discreetly than that in the firm with lower level of research and devel- opment investment. Studying the effect of firm＇s internal economic activity on cost stickiness, offers a new insight to help reveal the ＂black box＂of firm cost management and the cause of cost stickiness, and further enriches the literature.