Academics at the Helm: Academic Founder CEOs and R&D Investment in Chinese Growth-Oriented SMEs

Academics at the Helm: Academic Founder CEOs and R&D Investment in Chinese Growth-Oriented SMEs | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Academics at the Helm: Academic Founder CEOs and R&D Investment in Chinese Growth-Oriented SMEs Ethan Xin Liu, Guo-qing Wang, Chen-ying Yan This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9254073/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study examines whether academic founder CEOs increase R&D investment in growth-oriented SMEs and under what conditions this effect is more likely to emerge. Integrating upper echelons theory with social identity theory, we argue that academic founders carry a science-based identity into the firm and are therefore more inclined to support long-horizon, knowledge-intensive investment. We further propose that founder-CEO social status strengthens this relationship by reinforcing legitimacy and enhancing resource access. In contrast, founder CEO ownership weakens it by heightening financial exposure and activating a competing owner-entrepreneur logic. Using a hand-collected panel of 1,154 firms and 6,608 firm-year observations from China’s Growth Enterprise Market between 2009 and 2022, we find that academic founder CEOs are associated with significantly higher R&D intensity. The positive association becomes stronger at higher levels of founder social status and weaker at higher levels of founder ownership. By showing how founder identity shapes internal resource allocation, the study contributes to research on academic entrepreneurship, managerial microfoundations, and technology transfer at the science-business interface. JEL Classification O32, M13, L26, G34, J24 Academic founder CEOs R&D investment SMEs social identity theory Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9254073","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":626414513,"identity":"8026e088-cc71-4ed0-836d-31a8043378f7","order_by":0,"name":"Ethan Xin Liu","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA50lEQVRIie3PPQrCMBiA4S98EJeoa6HgGSKC1bO42MWtInQJCJIpLqJrJ72CLs6WrgEP4CJ4AcXFwcHEn0Vo6+iQlxBIyEMSAJfrTzsDeFBDIKfnElGWCZJYQhGwBcANIT8RAGqG/yRQQgI/SyVRnSGtsPZ4JO69+tSQm9jmku58EErQXkyRtQ+J5lGSEUlm+pBLuGbBEYQXKkuqikfSECSqkDQl8BeJLVn9Rt63oCXrMtKd0VD2tSU09pluRRtD0qK/BAxTeVGTcFHPNlcmGtFyn6XHmyh4mJ3637u73PMf4nK5XK7CHjCNTYKE0KTrAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Hebei University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ethan","middleName":"Xin","lastName":"Liu","suffix":""},{"id":626414514,"identity":"e1e29107-2955-4f7f-ae27-421ea1d85304","order_by":1,"name":"Guo-qing Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hainan University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Guo-qing","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":626414515,"identity":"e45848c5-9045-4fe7-86d2-73a1ba07967f","order_by":2,"name":"Chen-ying Yan","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hebei University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Chen-ying","middleName":"","lastName":"Yan","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-28 16:08:50","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9254073/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9254073/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":107635406,"identity":"0fed2c38-bbec-437a-968e-cace3d98a7a3","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-23 12:26:18","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":440361,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"20260322Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9254073/v1_covered_42733ea9-972a-4cc6-92a0-ba995f1d531a.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Academics at the Helm: Academic Founder CEOs and R\u0026D Investment in Chinese Growth-Oriented SMEs","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Academic founder CEOs, R\u0026D investment, SMEs, social identity theory","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9254073/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9254073/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThis study examines whether academic founder CEOs increase R\u0026amp;D investment in growth-oriented SMEs and under what conditions this effect is more likely to emerge. 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