What Factors Affect Investment Efficiency? A Co-citation Analysis

Abstract

Nowadays, in the context of a globalized economy, businesses have more and more opportunities to participate in investment projects, especially in developing countries. However, most enterprises, still have a lack of understanding and awareness of the potential and benefits that investment can bring to them, therefore they have been meeting underinvestment or overinvestment problem. How enterprises make investment efficiency decisions is a matter of great concern. The aim of this research is to investigate the factors that affect firm's investment efficiency. A total of 36 investment efficiency research articles from the leading Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) journals were cited. By using methods of citation analysis, statistical analyses including factor analysis, and multi-dimensional scaling, this study identifies four research trends on investment efficiency: financial reporting quality; board gender diversity; ownership structure; and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The findings of this study contribute to providing an overview of factors that influence investment efficiency. The results of this paper not only open more interesting future research topics but also may help policymakers establish effective strategies in investment projects as well as motivate the growth of economics, especially in emerging markets.