The Influence of Slack Resources and Cost Stickiness on R&D Investment: Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies

Reducing corporate costs and optimizing resource allocation are crucial for high-quality corporate development. This study focuses on Chinese listed companies with asymmetric cost behavior from 2012 to 2019, using organizational behavior theory and agency theory as the basis. The slack resources of the companies are categorized into three types: available slack resources, recoverable slack resources, and potential slack resources. The empirical analysis examines the relationships among slack resources, cost stickiness, and R&D investment. The results show an inverted U-shaped relationship between all three types of slack resources and R&D investment: as slack resources increase, the intensity of R&D investment initially rises but then decreases once the slack resources exceed a certain threshold. Additionally, cost stickiness mediates the relationship between recoverable slack resources and R&D investment, and it significantly positively moderates the relationship between potential slack resources and R&D investment. Finally, the study provides recommendations for the continuous optimization of slack resource allocation to promote corporate R&D innovation, offering insights for sustainable corporate development.