기업의 R&D 투자와 배당정책간의 관계

The Relationships between Corporate R&D Investments and Dividend Policies

This study empirically analyzes the relationships between R&D investment and dividend policies using fixed effects panel regression model. The main results of this study can be summarized as follows. The relationship between R&D investment and dividend payouts is inverse U-shaped. For lower R&D investment, the R&D investment is positively associated with the dividend payouts. This result is consistent with the reputation effect hypothesis. However, for higher R&D investment, the R&D investment is negatively associated with the dividend payouts. Therefore, R&D intensive firms tend to hold relatively large cash holdings in order to secure internal funds for continual high R&D investments. Reflecting the higher R&D investment firms’ need to preserve internal funds, they are likely to reduce dividend payouts. This result is consistent with the financial flexibility hypothesis. For financially unconstrained firms, the R&D investment is positively associated with the dividend payouts, while for financially constrained firms, the R&D investment is less positively associated with the dividend payouts. Therefore, the reputation effect hypothesis predicts that the positive relationship between R&D investment and dividend payouts is stronger for financially unconstrained firms and is weaker for financially constrained firms.