兼听则明:高管社会网络与企业投资决策同伴效应

Hear all parties:Executive social networks and peer effects in firm's investment decisions

以A股上市企业为样本,利用社会网络分析方法考察高管在网络中所处位置的中心度对企业投资决策同伴效应的影响.研究表明,当企业处于过度投资状态时,投资决策表现出同伴效应;高管网络中心度对企业投资决策同伴效应存在负向影响,网络中心度越高(低),企业投资决策受同伴企业的影响越小(大)在影响机制上,企业通过高管网络的信息功能从外界获取更多的信息,以便在制定投资决策时减少对同伴企业的依赖;同时,高管网络蕴含的社会资本能作为激励机制发挥治理功能,从而保证企业独立进行投资决策.最后,基于高管异质性的研究发现,年长、任职时间长的高管在社会网络中起着主导作用,董事长和总经理发挥的作用有限,拥有较高教育水平以及保持乐观情绪的高管更善于利用社会网络来改进投资决策.本文的研究有助于理解企业同伴效应的形成机制,也为社会网络产生的经济后果提供新的证据.

Using social networks analysis method,this paper examines the impact of executives'location in the social networks on the peer effects in firm's investment decisions with a sample of A-share listed companies.Robust evidence is found which shows that firm's investment decisions exhibit peer effects in the overinvestment subsample Executives network centrality has a negative influence on peer effects in firm's investment decisions The better the executives are connected,the less the firm's investment decisions are affected by its peers In terms of the influence mechanism,firms obtain more information from the outside through the information transmission channels of executive networks,thereby reducing their dependence on peers when making investment decisions Meanwhile the social capital embedded in the executive networks can play a governance role as an incentive mechanism hence ensuring that the firms make investment decisions independently.Finally,based on the heterogeneity of executives,the following results are found:The older and long-serving executives play a dominant role in social networks;the chairmen and general managers play a limited role;executives with higher education level and optimistic mood are better at using social networks to improve investment decisions This paper contributes to enriching the academic literature on the formation mechanism of peer effects and providing new evidence for the economic consequences of social networks.