스톡옵션 부여가 R&D 투자에 미치는 효과

The Effects of Stock Option Compensation on R&D Investment in Korea: Exporting vs. Domestic-market Firms

This study investigates the effects of executive stock options and export activities by firms in Korea on their research and development (R&D) investments which are intended to intensify their market competitiveness. We use 63,495 firm-level data of 12,382 firms provided by Microdata Service System (MDSS) of the Korean Bureau of Statistics from 2007 to 2012 using fixed effects panel regression analyses. We find that executive stock options have positive effects on R&D investment, although their effects are either negative or insignificant at best for firms with high-level R&D or exports, and in the manufacturing industry. Moreover, results revealed that exports also have positive effects on R&D investments in general, while the exports of firms in manufacturing, high-level R&D or exports do not affect the R&D investments positively for sustainable growth. The positive effects of executive stock options support the findings of prior studies of Cheng (2004) and Ryan and Wiggins (2002) in general, while negative effects for many types of firms with high-level exports, high R&D activities or in manufacturing industries contradict those of prior studies.