上市公司叙述性研发信息的非公开披露研究：基于董事会网络的视角

科技强国战略之下，企业的创新活动已经走向常态化。然而我国对研发信息的强制性披露仍仅限于定量的研发支出，无法充分解决信息不对称造成的代理问题。相较于定量研发支出信息，叙述性研发信息可以向市场传递更多面向未来的信息，有助于加深投资者对公司前景的了解。但在叙述性研发信息的披露方面，公司面临两难境地：如果披露不够完备，公司可能会承受因信息不对称而导致的风险溢价，从而造成外部融资成本的上升和股票流动性的下降；而如果公司进行详尽地公开披露，则将承担一定的公开披露成本，如专有信息成本、投资者解读的不确定性以及空谈成本等。这一困境也将制约市场资源的配置效率。在本课题中，我们将从信息的非公开传播路径出发，考察董事会网络是否能够有效缓解这一矛盾，并进一步探究董事会网络传播叙述性研发信息的动因及其经济后果。本课题的研究将不仅有助于管理者制定信息披露策略还将为监管者制定和完善有效灵活的披露准则提供一定的理论借鉴。

As China has implemented a strategy of strengthening the country through innovation, firms have made increasing investments in research and development (R&D) activities. Accounting rules, however, only require the mandatory disclosure on quantity R&D information, which cannot satisfy investors’ information demand. Information asymmetry will increase the cost of capital and decrease stock liquidity. Therefore, firms will further voluntarily disclose narrative R&D information to mitigate the information asymmetry between managers and investors. Compared to quantity R&D information, narrative R&D information provides more forward-looking and firm-specific information. But firms may incur disclosure costs of narrative R&D information, including the proprietary cost, investor’s uncertain response, and cheap-talk cost. Taken together, firms face a trade-off between information asymmetry and disclosure costs, constraining a firm’s ability to raise funds and resulting in an inefficiency allocation of market resources. In this study, we will first investigate whether the board network can serve as a private information dissemination channel to attenuate this dilemma. In addition, we will examine the motivation and economic consequences of the narrative R&D information dissemination by the board network. As information disclosure plays an important role in the development of the capital market, this study will not only help managers to make a narrative R&D disclosure strategy but also provide insights for regulators to improve the flexibility and effectiveness of the disclosure standards and guidelines.