中国宗教传统与企业创新——基于佛教传统的经验证据

Chinese Religious Traditions and Corporate Innovation:Evidence from Buddhism

企业是市场的主体,也是科技创新的主体,而企业的创新活力直接关系到经济发展的总体质量,已有研究主要从微观层面对企业创新活动的影响因素进行研究。近年来,陆续有学者从宏观层面研究企业创新的影响因素,但鲜有研究中国宗教传统对企业创新的影响。以佛教的视角,研究中国宗教传统对企业创新的影响。提出竞争性假设,并检验中国宗教传统对企业创新的总体影响;探究中国宗教传统的影响机制,并从治理效应和信息效应的角度予以检验;考察正式制度和其他文化对上述关系的影响。利用2009年至2017年中国A股上市企业的创新数据,运用Stata软件和多元回归分析方法进行实证检验。研究结果表明,中国宗教传统对企业创新有正向影响,即所在地宗教传统越浓,企业专利申请越多。宗教传统缓解了代理问题,降低了信息不对称,进而促进企业创新。进一步研究发现,高市场化程度、高法制化程度、较多的分析师跟踪、CEO具有高校学术经历或海外经历以及所在地存在其他文化的影响,都会削弱宗教传统对企业创新的正向作用。研究结果提供了中国宗教传统的积极因素有利于企业财务决策的正面证据,也阐述了其可能存在的消极因素的不利影响,丰富了中国宗教传统的经济后果研究,加深了对新兴经济体中非正式制度作用的理解。

Enterprises represent the principal part of the market as well as the main driver of technological innovation,and hence the innovation capacity of enterprises directly affects the overall quality of economic development. In the past,studies have mainly focused on the factors influencing enterprises’ innovation activities at the micro level. More recently,scholars have begun to study factors influencing corporate innovation from a macro point of view,yet the impact of Chinese religious traditions on corporate innovation has rarely been studied.In this paper,we take a Buddhist perspective to examine the impact of Chinese religious traditions on corporate innovation.First of all,this paper proposes competitive hypothesis and examines the overall impact of Chinese religious traditions on corporate innovation. Secondly,this paper explores the influencing mechanism of Chinese religious tradition and examines it from the perspective of governance effect and information effect. Finally,this paper examines whether formal institutions and other cultures have effects on the association examined above. Drawing upon the innovation data of A-share listed companies during the period2009-2017,this study carried out some empirical tests using Stata software and multiple regression analysis.The major finding suggests that Chinese religious traditions have a positive effect on corporate innovation: the stronger local religious traditions,the greater the number of corporate patents applied for. Moreover,based on the governance effect hypothesis,it indicates that religious traditions tend to alleviate the problem of agency. In line with the information effect hypothesis,it also shows how religious traditions reduce information asymmetry,and thus promote corporate innovation. Further analyses reveal that the positive effect of religious traditions on corporate innovation is weakened if formal institutions are better,exhibiting such features as a higher degree of marketization,a higher degree of legalization,or a greater number of analysts following the company’s progress. When the CEO has academic experience or overseas experience,the positive effect of religious tradition on corporate innovation is also weakened. Finally,we also find the effect of religious traditions on corporate innovation is reduced when there are other cultural influences in the local community.This study provides positive evidence that Chinese religious traditions have positive benefits for companies’ financial decision-making,and also illustrates the adverse effects of possible negative factors. These findings add new insights to studies on the economic consequences of Chinese religious traditions,and promote a better understanding of informal institutions in emerging economies.