Common institutional ownership and the spillover effect of corporate innovation

Abstract

This paper examines the spillover effect of innovation among portfolio corporations within the common institutional ownership (CIO) network using annual data of Chinese listed corporations from 2010 to 2022. We find that a corporation's (focal corporation) innovation is positively affected by the innovation of other corporations (peer corporations), suggesting a significant corporate innovation spillover in the CIO network. Furthermore, the spillovers of governance experience and managerial compensation between focal and peer corporations are the two underlying economic mechanisms. We also find that the spillover of innovation within the CIO network is more pronounced when focal corporations have long-term common institutional investors or leading corporations have a high level of innovation. Our findings offer new insight into the relationship between CIO and corporate innovation and highlight the important role of CIO in promoting corporate governance and innovation.