This study examines how ownership by different types of shareholders affects firm‐level research and development (R&D) investment. Integrating agency and resource dependence theories, we predict that up to a certain level, firm ownership by banks, corporations, governments, and insiders will positively relate to R&D investment. However, as ownership continues to increase, these shareholders shift their focus to personal wealth concerns, which makes owners more conservative towards R&D investment, resulting in reductions of R&D investment. Applying an institution‐based view, we expect the norms associated with performance‐based national cultures to moderate the curvilinear relationships between ownership and R&D investment. We test our hypotheses with a sample of 11,262 firms from 35 countries and find that ownership by banks, corporations, and governments has a curvilinear inverted U‐shaped relationship with R&D investment. Further, operating in a performance‐based culture enhances the effects for corporation and government ownership. Our findings contribute unique insights about what drives the important strategic activity of investing in R&D.

中文翻译：

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全球研发投资：所有权和基于绩效的文化背景的影响

本研究探讨了不同类型股东的所有权如何影响公司级研发（R＆D）投资。结合代理和资源依赖理论，我们预测在一定程度上，银行，公司，政府和内部人员的公司所有权将与R＆D投资成正比。但是，随着所有权的不断增加，这些股东将关注点转移到个人财富问题上，这使得所有者对研发投资更加保守，从而导致研发投资减少。运用基于机构的观点，我们期望与基于绩效的国家文化相关的规范能够缓和所有权与研发投资之间的曲线关系。我们使用来自35个国家/地区的11,262家公司的样本来检验我们的假设，并发现银行的所有权，公司和政府与R＆D投资之间呈曲线倒U形关系。此外，以绩效为基础的文化可以增强公司和政府所有权的影响。我们的发现对驱动研发投资的重要战略活动产生独特见解。