Board Capital and Corporate Innovation

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between board capital, including human and social capital, and corporate innovation. We propose two hypotheses: that a board with a higher level of human and social capital, respectively, is expected to have a higher level of innovation. To test these hypotheses, we use data from different sources, including SEC EDGARD-10k, Noah Stoffman, and S&P 500 Capital IQ for US public firms from all industries from 2000 to 2018. Four different innovation measurements are used to proxy for innovation: R&D, patents, citations, and number of new products. We use directors' level of education and industry experience to proxy for board human capital. The directors' social networks and interlocking ties are used to proxy for board social capital. We use fixed effect regressions to test the hypotheses and two-stage least square (2SLS) regressions to address endogeneity issues. We find that boards with higher levels of human capital are highly associated with corporate innovation in terms of citations. The findings imply that firms should hire directors with higher education and industry experience if they wish to increase their innovation.

Citation

Le, A. and Chen, I.-J. (2023), "Board Capital and Corporate Innovation", Lee, C.-F. and Yu, M.-T. (Ed.) Advances in Pacific Basin Business, Economics and Finance (Advances in Pacific Basin Business, Economics and Finance, Vol. 11), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 241-265. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2514-465020230000011011