The relationship between TMT characteristics and R&D investment: Empirical analysis of Chinese manufacture listed firms on GEM

Abstract

Based on Shenzhen GEM listed company data in June, 2012, combined the Upper Echelons Theory in TMT study with the CEM in diversity research, this paper studies empirically with STATA 10.0 software to explore the relationship between TMT characteristics and R&D investment. The results show that TMT with younger members and rich working experiences tends to invest more on R&D however, the average age and gender diversity do not have significant affect. The results verify the proposition in CEM, which states that the elaboration of task-relevant information and perspectives is an important mediating variable between group diversity and organization innovation performance.