创新是经济增长的重要驱动力，也是企业保持长期竞争优势的核心要素，企业创新的影响因素一直是公司金融研究的重点问题。随着2018年《公司法》修订以及近年来监管部门对股票回购的支持，股票回购工具越来越受中国上市公司重视，股票回购在总分红中的占比显著提升。已有研究表明，股票回购比现金股利更灵活，这种灵活性可以使得公司管理者更好地把握市场时机。本文希望研究股票回购工具带来的更灵活的派息政策是否有助于公司创新，以此更好地指导上市公司制定派息政策。本文基于中国2014-2021年沪深A股上市公司数据，研究派息政策灵活性（股票回购在总分红中的占比）对公司创新产出数量与质量的影响。实证结果表明，在控制年份与公司个体固定效应下，派息政策灵活性对公司创新数量与质量具有积极作用。该结论在倾向匹配得分（PSM）、工具变量法下仍然成立。同时，本文认为派息政策灵活性对公司创新作用受到财务灵活性等因素的影响，在财务灵活性较低、融资约束较大的公司中，派息政策灵活性带来的缓冲作用更突出，因此，其对公司创新水平具有更显著的促进作用。与国有企业相比，非国有企业派息政策灵活性的促进作用更显著。本文进一步研究表明，派息政策灵活性还能够提升公司创新产出效率。本文研究拓展了中国资本市场派息政策与股票回购领域的研究。基于本文研究结果，本文建议上市公司应充分认识到股票回购的优势，合理利用股票回购工具，增强财务灵活性意识；建议我国监管部门改进完善上市公司股票回购制度以及“半强制现金分红”相关要求，引导企业根据自身情况发挥股票回购的积极作用。

Innovation is an important factor in driving economic growth and helping companies maintain a long-term advantage. With the revision of the Company Law in 2018, the share repurchase instrument is increasingly valued by Chinese companies. Share repurchases account for a much higher proportion of total dividends. Compared with cash dividends, empirical evidence suggests that share repurchases are more flexible. This flexibility allows managers to better follow the market and change dividend payouts. This paper hopes to investigate whether the dividend payout flexibility brought about by the share repurchase instrument can improve firm innovation, which can better guide listed companies in the design of their dividend payout policies.This paper investigates the impact of dividend payout flexibility (i.e., the share of share repurchases in total dividends) on the quantity and quality of innovation, using data of Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies from 2014-2021. The empirical results show that dividend payout flexibility has a positive effect on firm innovation. The findings remain robust to the PSM and instrumental variables method. Meanwhile, this paper suggests that financial flexibility is one of the mechanisms influencing how dividend payout flexibility affects firm innovation. The paper finds that the buffering effect of dividend payout flexibility is more pronounced for firms with lower financial flexibility and higher financial constraint, and thus makes a more significant contribution to the level of firm innovation. Compared to SOEs, non-SOEs are more likely to benefit from dividend payout flexibility. In addition, this paper shows that the dividend payout flexibility can also improve the efficiency of innovation.This study extends the research in the area of dividend payout policies and share repurchases in the Chinese capital market. Based on the findings of this paper, it is suggested that companies should recognize the benefits of share repurchases, make full use of share repurchase tools, and enhance the awareness of financial flexibility. It is also suggested that Chinese regulators should improve the share repurchase regulation and the requirement related to "semi-mandatory cash dividends".