Institutional Investor, Economic Policy Uncertainty, and Innovation Investment: Evidence from China

Abstract

As a participator in corporate investment decision-making, the institutional investor is directly related to the corporate innovation investment. However, the economic policy uncertainty is aggravated by problems, such as economic slump and trade friction. Thus, institutional investors are not optimistic about the prospects of innovation investment. To explore the influence of institutional investors on corporate innovation investment from the perspective of economic policy uncertainty, using the 2010–2018 panel data in China and the fixed effect model, the influences of institutional investors on innovation investment and the moderating effects of the economic policy uncertainty were analyzed. Results show that institutional investors facilitate corporate innovation investment. Moreover, the increasing economic policy uncertainties repress the promoting effect of institutional investors on innovation investment. Furthermore, the institutional investors boost the corporate innovation investment by improving the internal control and relieving the financing constraints. For private companies, new and high-tech companies, the promoting effect of institutional investors on the corporate innovation investment is inhibited by the economic policy uncertainty to a small extent. For the listed companies located in areas with a high level of investor protection and intellectual property protection, the economic policy uncertainty has a minimal influence on the institutional investors and corporate innovation investment. The conclusions obtained from this study provide empirical evidence for giving full play to the role played by institutional investors in corporate innovative development. The conclusions also reveal, from the macroscopic level, that the consistency and stability of governmental economic policies have important effects on corporate development.