The impact of public R&D subsidies and tax incentives on business R&D expenditures

The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Slovenian Research Agency (research core funding No. P5-0093).Purpose: Private R&D investment in the business sector is often subject to market failures, such as positive externalities, information asymmetries, uncertainty and risk, making it often less than socially desirable. This is the primary reason that governments promote private R&D investment. Accordingly, the main aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of public R&D policy on business R&D expenditures. Design/methodology/approach: Applying panel data regression analysis on a sample of 3,113 company-year observations, covering Slovenian companies for the period 2012-2016. Findings: The empirical results show that public support for R&D investment plays an important role in firms’ R&D expenditures. As to R&D subsidies, the empirical results reveal they are generally ineffective since they displace firms’ R&D expenditures. Yet they do become effective when used in combination with R&D tax incentives and received by companies that are growing. On the contrary, the empirical results also show that R&D tax incentives are always effective when companies have a sufficient tax base. Practical Implications: The overall findings suggest that R&D tax incentives are more effective than R&D subsidies in Slovenia. However, R&D subsidies are still attractive especially for smaller companies without a sufficient tax base. It is hence important to consider both public policy instruments as two parallel ways of supporting firms’ R&D expenditures. Originality/value: Utilising a comprehensive dataset covering Slovenian companies made by merging multiple data sources, namely R&D survey, tax, balance-sheet and incomestatement data, representing the main originality and value of the paper.peer-reviewe

The relationship between tax-related administrative barriers and SMEs characteristics : evidence from Slovenia

Purpose: Legislation and tax authority conduct upon play a very important role in determining overall business environment by defining the rules under which the enterprises have to operate. Nonetheless, the complexity of legislation creates also unnecessary administrative burdens and consequently hinders entrepreneurial activity. Accordingly, the main aim of this paper is to establish whether there is a link between the perception of administrative barriers in the field of tax compliance and financial reporting and different characteristics of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Design/Methodology/Approach: Conducting a field survey and applying a parametric statistical technique on a sample of 293 Slovenian SMEs. Findings: The empirical results show that there are statistically significant differences in characteristics between those SMEs that perceive administrative barriers above average and those that perceive administrative below average in the field of tax compliance and financial reporting. Practical Implications: The overall findings suggest that regulatory authorities bear in mind that complexity of tax-related administrative barriers have a price resulting in deterioration of the business environment for SMEs and their performance. Originality/value: Utilising a comprehensive dataset covering Slovenian SMEs made by merging multiple data sources, namely field survey, balance-sheet and income-statement data, representing the main originality and value of the paper.peer-reviewe

The Role of Public Governance Practices for Business R&D Activity in the EU

The public sector and public governance play a crucial role in the contemporary society which takes care of social needs. Therefore, it is not surprising that good governance has often been used to explain good economic performance as well as the well-being of a society over the last decade. However, the business sector often represents a channel through which public governance affects economic performance, which has largely been neglected in the existing literature. In this context, not much is known about the role of public governance in promoting research and development (R&D) in the business sector in the EU. Therefore, this article aims to explain the interaction between the public and business sectors in a cross-national setting by investigating the relationship between different public governance practices and business R&D activity. The aim is to be achieved by applying a multiple regression analysis on a cross-sectional dataset of EU member countries. The empirical results show the following. First, they reveal that, in general, public administration in the EU is predominantly based on neo-Weberian state rather than New Public Management governance practices. Second, they reveal that public governance practices have important implications for business R&D activity. They show that impartiality, accountability and efficiency enhance business R&D activity in the EU, while closeness deteriorates it. The findings of the article are especially beneficial for contemporary governments and policymakers to establish appropriate public governance and policy practices in the future

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on online learning in higher education: a bibliometric analysis

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted higher education by forcing the transition to online learning, which became a mandatory teaching process during the lockdowns. Although the epidemiological situation has gradually improved since then, online learning is becoming ever more popular as it provides new learning opportunities. Therefore, the paper aims to present recent research trends concerning online learning in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic by using selected bibliometric approaches. The bibliometric analysis is based on 8,303 documents from the Scopus database published between January 2020 and March 2022, when repeated lockdowns meant most countries were experiencing constant disruptions to the educational process. The results show that the COVID-19 pandemic increased interest in online learning research, notably in English-speaking and Asian countries, with most research being published in open-access scientific journals. Moreover, the topics most frequently discussed in the online learning research during the COVID-19 pandemic were ICT and pedagogy, technology-enhanced education, mental health and well-being, student experience and curriculum and professional development. Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic encouraged explorations of emergency remote learning approaches like e-learning, distance learning and virtual learning, which are intended to limit physical contact between teachers and students, where the specific requirements of a given field of study often guide which online learning approach is the most suitable. The findings add to the existing body of scientific knowledge and support the evidence-based policymaking needed to ensure sustainable higher education in the future

Higher education students’ achievement emotions and their antecedents in e-learning amid COVID-19 pandemic: A multi-country survey

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a wide range of negative consequences for higher education students. We explored the generalizability of the control-value theory of achievement emotions for e-learning, focusing on their antecedents. We involved 17019 higher education students from 13 countries, who completed an online survey during the first wave of the pandemic. A structural equation model revealed that proximal antecedents (e-learning self-efficacy, computer self-efficacy) mediated the relation between environmental antecedents (cognitive and motivational quality of the task) and positive and negative achievement emotions, with some exceptions. The model was invariant across country, area of study, and gender. The rates of achievement emotions varied according to these same factors. Beyond their theoretical relevance, these findings could be the basis for policy recommendations to support stakeholders in coping with the challenges of e-learning and the current and future sequelae of the pandemic.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The impact of private research and development expenditures and tax incentives on sustainable corporate growth in selected OECD countries

Investment in research and development (R&D) plays a vital role in sustainable economic growth in many countries around the world. In addition, also companies are aware of that R&D investment is becoming more and more important since it can generate future benefits, which may ultimately result in the sustainable corporate growth. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of private R&D expenditures and R&D tax incentives on sustainable corporate growth. Using multiple regression analysis, a panel dataset of 1372 companies investing the largest amounts in R&D activity is analysed. The results of this paper reveal that private R&D expenditures as well as R&D tax incentives (in interaction with private R&D expenditures) have a positive impact on sustainable corporate growth at the firm level in selected Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. The comparison between different subgroups of companies reveals that private R&D expenditures represent one of the main driver of sustainable corporate growth especially in high-tech companies, while R&D tax incentives (in interaction with private R&D expenditures) are key determinant of sustainable corporate growth in both subgroups of companies. The results may help governments in the formulation of relevant R&D tax incentive policy in the future

The Impact of Private Research and Development Expenditures and Tax Incentives on Sustainable Corporate Growth in Selected OECD Countries

Investment in research and development (R&D) plays a vital role in sustainable economic growth in many countries around the world. In addition, also companies are aware of that R&D investment is becoming more and more important since it can generate future benefits, which may ultimately result in the sustainable corporate growth. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of private R&D expenditures and R&D tax incentives on sustainable corporate growth. Using multiple regression analysis, a panel dataset of 1372 companies investing the largest amounts in R&D activity is analysed. The results of this paper reveal that private R&D expenditures as well as R&D tax incentives (in interaction with private R&D expenditures) have a positive impact on sustainable corporate growth at the firm level in selected Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. The comparison between different subgroups of companies reveals that private R&D expenditures represent one of the main driver of sustainable corporate growth especially in high-tech companies, while R&D tax incentives (in interaction with private R&D expenditures) are key determinant of sustainable corporate growth in both subgroups of companies. The results may help governments in the formulation of relevant R&D tax incentive policy in the future

The impact of R&D expenditures on corporate performance

Research and development (R&D) investment is widely recognised as one of the crucial elements of generating the competitive advantage of contemporary companies. At the same time, it is also considered to represent one of the key determinants of overall sustainable development. Global competition, which is becoming increasingly harsh and forces companies to provide value-added products, processes and services, constitutes a reason why R&D investment is indispensable in contemporary business operations as they facilitate keeping the companies\u27 position in the market in terms of their competitiveness. The main aim of this paper is therefore to examine the impact of R&D expenditures on corporate performance. Using a multiple regression analysis, two different panel datasets covering Slovenian and world R&D companies are analysed. This gives a unique opportunity to obtain comprehensive and interesting findings, representing the main originality and value of the paper. The empirical results reveal that R&D expenditures are not effective in the short-term period and bring certain benefits in the long-term period. The findings of this paper provide several important theoretical and practical implications