Robot adoption and enterprise R&D manipulation: Evidence from China

Robot adoption has profoundly affected economies and societies as part of the continuous evolution of technology and associated industrial transformations. We use the country-industry-year industrial robots dataset published by the International Federation of Robotics, and refer to the “Bartik instr...

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Main Authors: Zhou, Z., Li, Z., Du, S., Cao, June
Format: Journal Article
Published: Elsevier 2024
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/94062
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author Zhou, Z.
Li, Z.
Du, S.
Cao, June
author_facet Zhou, Z.
Li, Z.
Du, S.
Cao, June
author_sort Zhou, Z.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Robot adoption has profoundly affected economies and societies as part of the continuous evolution of technology and associated industrial transformations. We use the country-industry-year industrial robots dataset published by the International Federation of Robotics, and refer to the “Bartik instrumental variable” method to construct the robot adoption index of listed companies in China's manufacturing industry. Through empirical tests, we find that robot adoption significantly inhibits enterprise research and development (R&D) manipulation, and the findings remain unchanged during a series of robustness tests. Based on information asymmetry and principal-agent theory, we propose that robot adoption inhibits enterprises' R&D manipulation through information, human, and governance effects. Furthermore, high media attention, low-intensity regional tax administration, the academic experience of CEOs, and high-quality internal controls are conducive to the adoption of robots to suppress R&D manipulation. Moreover, digital transformation and robot adoption play complementary roles in inhibiting R&D manipulation. Finally, we verify that robot adoption can improve enterprises' production efficiency and reduce enterprise fraud. Overall, we enrich the research on robot adoption and enterprise R&D manipulation and provide experience for preventing enterprise R&D manipulation and promoting industrial robots to better serve the high-quality development of the real economy.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-940622024-01-26T03:16:29Z Robot adoption and enterprise R&D manipulation: Evidence from China Zhou, Z. Li, Z. Du, S. Cao, June Robot adoption has profoundly affected economies and societies as part of the continuous evolution of technology and associated industrial transformations. We use the country-industry-year industrial robots dataset published by the International Federation of Robotics, and refer to the “Bartik instrumental variable” method to construct the robot adoption index of listed companies in China's manufacturing industry. Through empirical tests, we find that robot adoption significantly inhibits enterprise research and development (R&D) manipulation, and the findings remain unchanged during a series of robustness tests. Based on information asymmetry and principal-agent theory, we propose that robot adoption inhibits enterprises' R&D manipulation through information, human, and governance effects. Furthermore, high media attention, low-intensity regional tax administration, the academic experience of CEOs, and high-quality internal controls are conducive to the adoption of robots to suppress R&D manipulation. Moreover, digital transformation and robot adoption play complementary roles in inhibiting R&D manipulation. Finally, we verify that robot adoption can improve enterprises' production efficiency and reduce enterprise fraud. Overall, we enrich the research on robot adoption and enterprise R&D manipulation and provide experience for preventing enterprise R&D manipulation and promoting industrial robots to better serve the high-quality development of the real economy. 2024 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/94062 10.1016/j.techfore.2023.123134 Elsevier restricted
spellingShingle Zhou, Z.
Li, Z.
Du, S.
Cao, June
Robot adoption and enterprise R&D manipulation: Evidence from China
title Robot adoption and enterprise R&D manipulation: Evidence from China
title_full Robot adoption and enterprise R&D manipulation: Evidence from China
title_fullStr Robot adoption and enterprise R&D manipulation: Evidence from China
title_full_unstemmed Robot adoption and enterprise R&D manipulation: Evidence from China
title_short Robot adoption and enterprise R&D manipulation: Evidence from China
title_sort robot adoption and enterprise r&d manipulation: evidence from china
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/94062