We prepared Au-LaNiO 3Àd (Au-LNO) nanocomposite thin films by a sol-gel coating method. The effects of the doped Au on the microstructure and electrical properties of the Au-LNO films under different types of thermal strain were investigated. Introduction of Au into the LNO films changed their preferential orientation and markedly lowered their room-temperature resistivity. Moreover, the resistivity of the films containing Au nanoparticles showed negligible dependence on thermal strain, in contrast to the behavior of Au-free LNO films. We performed microstrain analysis and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to explore the strain-resistivity relationship of the films. Microstrain was closely related to the density of oxygen vacancies in LNO films and dominated the change in electrical properties of polycrystalline LNO films. The addition of Au promoted crystallization of the LNO films and decreased the density of oxygen vacancies, which stabilized the microstrain in the films under different external strain and accounted for the strain independence of the resistivity of the Au-LNO films.