Academic Independent Director Abnormal Resignations and R&D Investment: Evidence from China.

We examine the effects of academic independent directors abnormal resignations on a firm's R&D investment. We manually collect the resignations data of 3,964 academic independent directors (IDAs), and find that the abnormal resignations of IDAs reduce firms' R&D investment. The results remain significant after employing a series of endogenous checks and robustness tests. Furthermore, we find that the lack of advising and resourcing channels caused by abnormal resignations are the primary mechanisms for the decline of the R&D investment. Our main finding is more pronounced for non-state-owned enterprises, firms with numerous independent directors, and firms with high profitability and low degrees of financial constraints. We contribute to the literature by proving that the abnormal resignations of IDAs not only decrease firms' R&D investment but also further reduce the innovation quality and firm value over the long run. Overall, this paper supports that IDAs have positive contributions to R&D investment and firms' value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]