“…Thefield of researchon the value-relevance of R&D has its basis in the positive theory of accounting, which seeks to explain and predict the accounting practices of firms (Watts & Zimmerman, 1990). The focus of extant research has been on the increased value-relevance of capitalizing R&D into a firm's asset base rather than expensing it in the income statement (Aboody & Lev, 1998;Anagnostopoulou, 2008;Kothari et al, 2002;Park et al, 2014). This is mainly driven by the association proven in extant research between a R&D investment and the future stock returns, as well as between the level of R&D investment and subsequent abnormal excess returns (Bhana, 2013;Chambers, Jennings & Thompson II, 2002;Chan, 2012;Chan, Lakonishok & Sougiannis, 2001;Eberhart, Maxwell & Siddique, 2004;Lev & Sougiannis, 1996;Lev, Sarath & Sougiannis, 2005).…”