Abstract: Stock option and restricted stock are treated as two of the most popular equity incentive tools used by listed companies at home and abroad. A large number of literatures have conducted comparative studies on the incentive effects of the two incentive tools from different perspectives, but there are significant differences in the research conclusions. How to choose equity incentive tools for listed companies with heterogeneous characteristics in terms of scale growth and property rights? Existing literature does not provide effective recommendations.
The factors that influence the selection of equity incentive tools in listed companies are revealed from the perspective of incentive efficiency, so as to scientifically address the above question. To be specific, from the perspective of incentive efficiency, the data of China's A-share listed companies that issued the equity incentive plan from 2011 to 2016 are employed to explore the influence of heterogeneous factors such as the scale, growth and the nature of property rights on the selection of equity incentive tools. It is found that company scale can significantly affect the efficiency of equity incentive tools, and large listed companies are more suitable to use stock options, while their small counterparties are fitter for restricted shares. Moreover, the higher the growth degree of the company is, the more significant the influence of the above matching relationship on the equity incentive efficiency will be. Compared with restricted stock, state-owned listed companies are suitable to choose stock option as equity incentive tool.
A mechanism for selecting equity incentive tools of heterogeneous listed companies under the premise of ensuring incentive efficiency is constructed. It provides not only a new perspective and thinking for the existing relevant research, and also direct empirical suggestions for the selection of equity incentive tools for listed companies.

Key words: equity incentive tools, restricted stock, stock options, incentive efficiency, listed companies