Abstract
From the perspective of agency theory, family members’ involvement is negatively correlated with technological innovation. However, from the perspective of stewardship theory, it is believed that family members’ involvement is positively correlated with technological innovation. From the phenomenon mentioned above, this paper studies the influence of family members’ involvement on R&D investment and R&D output and tests the above competitive hypotheses. Based on the 2007–2016 data of A-share listed family-owned enterprises, this empirical study found that family members involved in corporate management not only save R&D investment, but they also increase R&D output. After controlling for endogeneity, the above conclusions are still valid. This study provides empirical evidence for the objective recognition of the relationship between family members’ involvement and technological innovation.
Highlights
After more than 40 years of reform and opening up, China’s private economy, especially family-owned enterprises, has emerged in the global competition and has gradually become a force that cannot be ignored in China’s economic development
If we focus on the innovation management model selection of family-owned enterprises, we may obtain research hypotheses that are the opposite of those from agency and stewardship theory
The research results of this paper show that family members’ involvement in management saves R&D investment, but it increases R&D output, which indicates that stewardship theory is supported by empirical evidence
Summary
After more than 40 years of reform and opening up, China’s private economy, especially family-owned enterprises, has emerged in the global competition and has gradually become a force that cannot be ignored in China’s economic development. In order to enrich the research gap in this field, this paper studies the relationship between family members’ involvement and technological innovation from perspective of Chinese family-owned enterprises. If we focus on the innovation management model selection of family-owned enterprises, we may obtain research hypotheses that are the opposite of those from agency and stewardship theory. In order to test the applicability and explanatory power of the above two theories, this article conducts research from the most obvious altruistic perspective that distinguishes family-owned enterprises from nonfamily enterprises and demonstrates that family members’ involvement influences the technological innovation of family-owned enterprises. This paper deduces competitive hypothesis from agency theory and stewardship theory by analyzing how family members’ involvement affects technological innovation of family-owned enterprises, and it empirically tests applicability and explanatory power of the two theories.
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