文化相近对企业创新有益吗?——来自董事会文化相近的经验证据

《上海财经大学学报》 2021年23卷第1期 页码：61 - 74  online：2021年1月23日

文化相近对企业创新有益吗?——来自董事会文化相近的经验证据

Is Cultural Proximity Good for Corporate Innovation? Evidence from Board Cultural Proximity

作者（中）：罗昆, 周盈盈*

作者（英）：Luo Kun, Zhou Yingying*

作者单位：1.安徽师范大学 经济管理学院，安徽 芜湖 241003

摘要：文化相近在深层次上是一种价值观的相近，董事会内部的文化相近性主要是指外籍董事来源国文化与中国文化的相近性。文章基于中国A股上市公司2007-2017年的样本数据，采取董事会深层价值观的权力距离文化相近性来测度董事会文化相近变量，以探究董事会文化相近与企业创新之间的关系。研究结果表明，董事会文化越相近，企业创新水平越低；董事会文化相近主要通过降低信任水平和增加信息不对称的路径抑制企业创新水平。进一步检验发现，由外籍董事担任董事长有助于弱化董事会文化相近对企业创新的负向影响；与东部地区的上市公司相比，中西部地区的上市公司董事会文化相近对企业创新的负向影响更大。文章拓展了文化相近性领域的研究范畴，为中国构建适宜的董事会文化提供了经验支持和参考。

关键词：董事会文化相近; 企业创新; 信任; 信息不对称

Summary: Cultural proximity is a kind of similarity of values at a deep level. The cultural proximity within the board of directors mainly examines the proximity between the culture of foreign directors’ country and the Chinese culture. If the Chinese board of directors introduces directors who are proximate to the Chinese culture, the board cultural proximity will be presented in the hierarchical order and authoritarianism of culture, that is, the board culture is proximity. Based on the sample data of China’s A-share listed companies from 2007 to 2017, this paper adopts the power distance cultural similarity of the deep values to measure the similarity variables of the board culture, so as to explore the relationship between the cultural proximity of the board of directors and enterprise innovation. The results show that the closer the board culture, the lower the level of corporate innovation; similar board cultures can restrain the level of corporate innovation by reducing the level of trust and increasing information asymmetry. Specifically, according to the theory of group fault zone, directors of different nationality backgrounds pursue their own recognized authority, which is likely to form fault zones, causing internal conflicts within groups, reducing corporate trust, and making it difficult to generate and effectively promote innovative thinking and innovative activities, thereby inhibiting enterprises’ innovation level. According to the information asymmetry theory, the closer the board culture is, the less information sharing within the board will be, and the more information asymmetry will occur, which is not conducive to the stimulation of innovative ideas, the scientific nature of innovative decisions and the transmission of innovative information, and will affect the effective development of enterprise innovation activities and inhibit the improvement of enterprise innovation output. Further examination finds that the chairmanship of a foreign director helps to weaken the negative impact of similar board culture on corporate innovation. Compared with the listed companies located in the eastern region, the similar board culture in the central and western regions has a greater negative impact on corporate innovation. In the case of high trust level and low degree of information asymmetry, the inhibiting effect of similar board culture on corporate innovation is weakened. After considering endogeneity and robustness test, the above conclusions are still valid. The conclusion of this paper not only enriches the topic research of “culture and innovation”, but also expands the research scope in the field of cultural affinity. Meanwhile, it also provides empirical support for how to build an appropriate board culture in China, and provides decision-making reference for enterprises to make policies on the introduction of foreign directors and arrange reasonable positions.

Key words: board cultural proximity; corporate innovation; trust; information asymmetry

DOI：10.16538/j.cnki.jsufe.2021.01.005

收稿日期：2020-4-24

基金项目：安徽省哲学社会科学规划项目“混合所有制企业董事会文化多样性对企业创新的影响研究”（AHSKF2018D22）

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