Influencing Factors of Enterprise R&D Investment: Post-Subsidy, Sustainability, and Heterogeneity

Yabin Yu and Qian Xu
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Yabin Yu: College of Economics & Management, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou 310018, China
Qian Xu: College of Economics & Management, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou 310018, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 10, 1-14

Abstract: Sustainable innovation is an important factor for enterprises to obtain core competitiveness in modern society, and only continuous R&D investment can ensure the smooth progress of enterprise innovation. Therefore, this study uses the post-subsidy data of enterprise R&D investment released by Hangzhou Science and Technology Bureau to explore the influencing factors of R&D investment and its sustainability by Chinese high-tech enterprises. In contrast to previous research which mainly focused on the pre-subsidy, this study focuses on the post-subsidy policy of R&D investment sustainability. Empirical analysis methods, such as cross-sectional linear regression and the propensity-score-matching method, were used to draw the following conclusions: (1) The quantity and sustainability of R&D investment of enterprises are obviously unbalanced among regions. Regions where high-tech enterprises are concentrated have higher levels of R&D investment and sustainability than other regions. (2) Under different scales, there are significant differences in the amount and sustainability of R&D investment. Large enterprises have stronger R&D investment strength, while small enterprises have stronger R&D investment willingness. However, the effect of scale on R&D investment will be reduced by regional factors. (3) The evaluation of high-tech enterprises and the enterprises’ R&D investments affect each other. (4) The sustainability of enterprise R&D investment will be affected by enterprise heterogeneity factors, and in turn, the sustainability of enterprise R&D investment will also affect the amount of enterprise R&D investment. Based on the results, the study provides suggestions for the government to make more targeted policies.

Keywords: R&D investment; post-subsidy; sustainability; heterogeneity; China; high-tech enterprises (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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