信息披露质量对企业创新的激励与治理效应研究

A Study of the Incentive and Governance Effects of Information Disclosure Quality on Corporate Innovation

在推进上市公司创新升级的进程中,信息披露质量是外部投资者和利益相关者了解企业内部投融资决策的重要渠道。为此,以2009—2019年中国沪深上市公司为研究对象,实证检验了信息披露质量对企业创新的影响效应与影响机制。研究发现,高质量的信息披露通过提升管理者薪酬业绩敏感性,激励其进行创新投入;通过缓解企业创新过程中存在的代理问题,对创新产出发挥治理作用。进一步研究发现,信息披露质量对企业创新的激励效应和治理效应在信息不对称程度较高、地区知识产权保护较好和行业集中度较低的样本中更显著。当前,中国正处于实施创新驱动发展战略的关键时期,据此提出,应高度重视企业信息环境在影响管理者经营决策和资源配置效率方面的作用,努力完善制度环境,不断激发上市公司积极进行创新升级以实现高质量发展。

Information disclosure is the soul and core of the science and technology innovation board and registration system in China’s capital market.True,accurate,complete and timely information disclosure is the cornerstone of honesty and credibility in the securities market and the basis for investors’decisions.Innovation is a key variable that affects and changes the global competitive landscape.Consolidating the basic innovation capability of enterprises is of great significance to improve China’s innovation development system and promote high-quality economic development.However,the existing literature on how the quality of corporate disclosure affects innovation activities is mostly based on the financing constraint perspective,and little literature focuses on how the quality of disclosure plays a role in innovation decision makers’investment in innovation and in the process of innovation implementation.Using data on Chinese listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock exchanges from 2009–2019,this paper measures corporate innovation behavior from two perspectives,namely,corporate innovation input and innovation output,and measures the quality of corporate information disclosure by the assessment level of information disclosure of A-share listed companies issued by Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock exchanges,so as to empirically test the effect and influence mechanism of information disclosure quality on corporate innovation.It is found that highquality disclosure motivates managers to invest in innovation by enhancing their pay-performance sensitivity,and exerts a governance effect on innovation output by mitigating agency problems in the corporate innovation process.Further study finds that the incentive and governance effects of information disclosure quality on corporate innovation are more significant in samples with higher information asymmetry,better regional intellectual property protection,and lower industry concentration.Compared with the existing literature,the marginal contribution of this paper is as follows.First,it complements the literature related to the impact of corporate information environment on companies’innovation behavior.While previous related studies have mostly focused on that corporate information environment promotes corporate innovation by alleviating the financial pressure required for corporate innovation through the improvement of information flow,this paper provides insight into the mechanism of the role of information disclosure quality in influencing corporate innovation activities from the perspective of its incentive and governance effects on innovation decision makers.Second,it links the information disclosure quality with the decision about corporate innovation investment which is related to the long-term competitiveness of companies,enriching the literature on the economic consequences of corporate information environment.Considering the key role of enterprise innovation in corporate competition and the development of real economy,the research on corporate information environment can help us to understand the important impact of information disclosure on the development of micro-companies more comprehensively.Third,through the effective cross-sectional test,we identify the boundary conditions under which information disclosure quality affects companies’innovation behavior,and provide empirical insights on how to optimize companies’external economic environment to promote their innovation upgrading.This paper provides micro-evidence to support the strengthening of information disclosure regulation to achieve highquality development of listed companies.At present,China,in its critical period of implementing innovation-driven development strategy,should pay great attention to the role of corporate information environment in influencing managers’business decisions and resource allocation efficiency,and strive to improve the institutional environment to continuously stimulate listed companies to actively innovate and upgrade for high-quality development.