Growth Aspiration Surplus, Managerial Autonomy, and Corporate Innovation Investment

Innovation is crucial for the future growth of high-performing firms. Whether firms in the growth aspiration surplus have a conservative or aggressive attitude toward innovation investment is still a matter of concern. Therefore, based on the theory of firm behavior, it is discussed how the state of growth aspiration surplus affects managers’ perception of firms’ risk and return, which in turn affects firms’ innovation investment. Based on the data of China’s A-share listed companies, a two-way fixed-effects model is utilized to draw the following conclusions: The growth aspirations surplus is significantly positively related to innovation investment, which is confirmed by both the historical growth aspirations surplus and the industry growth aspirations surplus. In addition, organizational slack reinforces the positive effect of growth aspirations surplus and innovation investment, while organizational inertia negatively moderates the relationship between growth aspirations surplus and innovation investment.