벤처기업의 신호가 자금조달에 미치는 영향: 투자 담론의 역할

Based on signaling theory, previous studies have shown that ventures can successfully secure external funding by using their patents and government R&D grants as signals of their capabilities and growth potential. However, these studies often focus exclusively on either the perspective of ventures or investors, with limited attention given to the situational role of the investment environment in which both parties are embedded. This study integrates the perspectives of both ventures and investors and argues that the activation of investment narratives enhances the signaling effects of patents and government R&D grants. To test these hypotheses, we measured the activation of investment narratives using topic modeling on domestic news articles published from 2000 to 2018 and conducted empirical analyses using data from the “Survey of Korea Venture Firms” conducted in 2015, 2017, and 2019. The results showed that ventures’ patents and government R&D grants positively influence external funding and that these relationships are further strengthened during periods of activated investment narratives. This study contributes to the literature by comprehensively considering the interaction between ventures and investors through the lens of signaling theory and identifying the dynamic impact of the investment environment on signaling effectiveness, offering both academic and practical implications.