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This paper examines the moderating role of capital structure decisions in the relationship between research and development (R&D) investment and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) performance.

Based on panel data of 1,357 European SMEs from 2014 to 2020, this study employs a generalized method of moments (GMM) regression to examine the R&D-performance link through the moderating role of capital structure.

The results show that R&D investment and equity financing positively and significantly influence SMEs performance. Debt financing, however, is negatively and significantly associated with SME performance. In addition, we show that capital structure choice significantly moderates the relationship between R&D investment and SME performance. Specifically, debt financing attenuates the positive impact of R&D investment on SMEs performance, whereas equity financing accentuates this relationship.

This study helps policymakers formulate appropriate policies to overcome the challenges of underinvestment in R&D projects to enhance SMEs performance.

Our findings provide new evidence on R&D-performance literature by refining the deeper understanding of the role of capital structure, which has previously been examined in partial and fragmented ways.

This study investigates the relationship between female CEOs and SMEs’ financing decisions. The study also examined the moderating role of ownership structure (female, foreign, and state ownership) in female CEO-SMEs’ financing decisions.

The study has applied Generalized Least Square (GLS) and Binomial Logistic Regression. The study has used firm-level data from 2,700 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the Chinese economy.

The results suggest that female CEOs use debt financing. However, the financing decision of female CEOs varies if we account for female ownership, foreign ownership, state ownership, firm association with big firms, and the industry in which the firm operates. This study also provides robust evidence that female CEOs utilize debt financing under certain conditions and that female CEOs prefer long-term debt financing to short-term debt financing when considering debt maturity choices.

Recent studies report a negative relationship between female CEOs and financing decisions based on the rationale that females are risk-averse and choose less risky financing compared to their male counterparts. This study posits new evidence that female CEO financing decisions are not always risk averse if we consider female ownership, foreign ownership, state ownership, firm association with big firms, and the industry in which the firm operates. Thus, we contribute to the corporate governance literature, and this study implies a corporate financing policy.

There is a wealth of literature on the financing structure of a company. For this reason, the authors considered it useful to present a theoretical and empirical literature review of classical and new theories of the financial structure. The purpose of this study is to realize on a panel of 15 nonfinancial Moroccan companies listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange, over a period of 11 years.

The results obtained indicate that only a few variables from financial theory have an important role in the financing policy of Moroccan companies. The authors have presented the positive role of size and self-financing on the debt ratio. The analysis of the effects of profitability shows in this study that it is negative related on the debt ratio which asserts the predictions of the pecking order theory. Also, the age of the company and the growth opportunities explain the level of indebtedness.

Econometric analysis is used to ascertain the nature of the financial structure of listed companies. For this purpose, a large number of companies listed on the Casablanca stock exchange were used.

The authors have presented the positive role of size and self-financing on the debt ratio. Regarding the influence of profitability, this analysis shows that it is negative related on the debt ratio which asserts the predictions of the pecking order theory. Also, the age of the company and the growth opportunities explain the level of indebtedness.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of quality loss in transit on e-commerce supply chain pricing, production and financing decisions.

The authors consider a Stackelberg game model with a supplier, logistics firm and e-commerce platform. The logistics firm is capital-constrained and obtains funding from the e-commerce platform by debt financing or equity financing. Through backward induction, this paper first solves the equilibrium results under the two financing schemes and then reveals the financing preferences of all parties.

The results demonstrate that equity financing reduces financing costs and promotes production significantly. However, it may also lead to overproduction, particularly in markets with poor profitability and high cost factors. When the percentage of product quality loss is large, equity financing is preferable. With the increasing of transportation level, the benefits of debt finance are steadily growing. In addition, equity financing is the Pareto dominant scheme for all firms under certain circumstances. The extensions consider hybrid financing and another quality loss type.

The paper derives the equilibrium solutions and financing preferences, then specifies the threshold for applying financing schemes. Provide guidance for logistics firms’ finance model innovation and core enterprise involvement in the logistics industry.

The paper investigates how logistics firms’ financing strategies are impacted by product quality loss.

This study aims to examine the nonlinear threshold effect of female board gender diversity (FBGD) on debt financing (DF) and equity financing (EF) decisions arguing that the effect of FBGD varies/changes depending on the numerical strength of the women on the board.

This study uses seemingly unrelated simultaneous panel equation modeling of 19 listed firms on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) between 2010 and 2021. Although natural logs of equity and debts are used to proxy financing decisions, FBGD is measured as a percentage of total female board members to total board members.

This study reveals a nonlinear inverted U-shape effect of FBGD on EF and DF options. Although this result implies that the positive effects transit to negative effects when FBGD reaches numerical thresholds 34.20% and 35.11%, respectively, it also suggests that the risk averse nature of women on EF and DF usage becomes more visible and intense when the percentage of women on board increases above the mentioned thresholds, respectively. Clearly, the effect gender diversity on DF and EF depends on the numerical strength of the women on a board.

These results suggest that corporate entities and managers must be careful in the formation and implementation of gender diversity policies as gender diversity policies can influence/change debt and EF decisions. In addition, the thresholds show that a smaller number of women on board is required to lower EF compared to debt and this highlights risk-aversion nature women toward riskier financing decision. Also, the nonlinear inverted U-shape nexus from FBGD to EF and DF confirms the inverted U curve theory implying that the numerical strength of females on boards is critical for financing decisions.

This study contributes to the “gender diversity-financing decision” literature by simultaneously conceptualizing and modellng debt and EF structures and providing an emerging economy perspective on how gender diversity nonlinearly affects financing decisions.

This paper studies the impact of societal trust on the conservative financing policy puzzle, aiming to cover a gap in the relationship between cultural values and the conservative financing policy.

We use a sample of 14,509 privately held medium-sized manufacturing firms from 26 European countries between 2015 and 2020 and rely on logistic regression methods controlling for firm-specific and macroeconomic factors.

We show that societal trust decreases the odds of being a zero-leverage or almost zero-leverage firm. Also, the probability of being a conservatively financed firm increases for older and more profitable firms and decreases with tangibility. In more trustworthy national environments, firms are less averse to debt as a source of financing. Our results are robust to the specific measure of trust, estimation methods, sampling procedures, and annual financial constraint status. Moreover, we show that the effect is noticed both in the long-term debt and the short-term debt with a lower economic impact in the latter situation and that increased societal trust attenuates (reinforces) the effect of being a financially constrained (unconstrained) firm on the odds of adopting a conservative financing policy.

Societal trust strategically impacts debt financing policy and could help foster firms’ growth, particularly for those facing heavier financial constraints.

Novel evidence on the impact of societal trust on the conservative financing policy, for privately held medium-sized European firms.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the financial structure on innovation.

We utilize the matched firm-level data from two sources: the World Bank Enterprise Survey and the Innovation Follow-Up Survey. A total of 3,664 firms from 11 African countries are included.

The authors find a financially constrained and low technology-intensive firm that uses internal finance more than its peers is less likely to innovate. Our results also show that a firm that uses new equity and debt finance more than its peers is more likely to innovate. The results particularly suggest the significant effect of bank and trade credit finance on firms’ innovation. The extent and, in some cases, the direction of the effect of dependence on internal finance, new equity finance and debt finance on innovation vary due to the heterogeneity in firm size, age and ownership status. Corporate innovation is also associated with firm size, R&D, cooperation, staff training, public support, exportation and group membership.

The management of companies, particularly financially constrained firms, should reduce their dependence on internal finance, which negatively affects their innovation. As a remedy, they could improve their reliance on new equity finance and debt finance, especially bank finance and trade credit finance, which positively affect their innovativeness.

A pending policy task for African business leaders is to design and evaluate reforms that help create strong financial sectors willing to provide capital to a broad range of firms, particularly small and young firms.

This study adds new evidence to the recent surge of debate on the trade-off between going public, using debt or heavily using internal sources to finance innovative projects, and which of these is more important in promoting firm-level innovation.

This study aims to explore the impact of capital structure (CS), including total debts, short-term debt, long-term debt and total shareholder equity, on environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance in the context of Jordan.

To achieve the study’s objectives, the authors used the content analysis approach and the longitudinal data generated from the annual reports of 51 industrial companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange for the period 2012–2020.

The findings show that debt financing enhances ESG performance in all dimensions, while financing by equity did not affect ESG. Consequently, Jordanian companies’ managers are trying to reduce agency costs by investing in ESG activities. In addition, companies are focusing on debt financing instead of equity to achieve their financial as well as nonfinancial goals. This is because the opportunism of new shareholders will likely lead to a focus on maximizing their value at the expense of the broader group of stakeholders, and this will adversely affect companies’ ESG performance. Therefore, debt financing limits shareholder control.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first examination of the impact of CS financing choices on ESG performance. Thus, this study has important implications for the decisions of executives, policymakers, shareholders and lenders, as it enables them to better understand the linkage between CS and ESG.

This paper aims to explore the determinants of the level of minibonds issued by companies. In doing so, it discusses the importance of minibonds in providing a market-based funding source. In the empirical analysis, special attention is paid to the study of the recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.

The analysis is carried out through an econometric approach, on the basis of a high-quality empirical dataset related to the Italian small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The reference period covers the recent pandemic. From a theoretical point of view, a regression model is implemented, including a multicollinearity analysis and an outlier detection procedure.

The results of the study indicate that factors such as leverage, cash flow, firm collaterals and seniority can explain the amount of minibonds issued. These findings provide valuable insights into the drivers of minibond issuance and highlight the potential benefits of minibonds as a funding option for Italian SMEs.

Importantly, results highlight relevant managerial implications at two levels. On one side, we carry on a managerial discussion about the worthiness of accessing the minibonds market; on the other side, we give insights on the managerial implications related to the features of the companies issuing minibonds.

The paper investigates an innovative financial instrument that has been introduced recently and has not yet been studied in depth. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first contribution assessing the main drivers for minibonds issuance level, which is a timely and relevant managerial research topic. In addition, this study also takes into account the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on minibond issuance, making the analysis appropriate for explaining the current economic context.

This study investigates the factors influencing the intention to use Islamic Debt Financing (IDF) among owners-managers of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Morocco.

We developed and validated a comprehensive model that examines the key behavioral elements affecting attitude towards IDF, entrepreneurial achievement motivation, and IDF usage intention. Entrepreneurial achievement motivation was assessed as a mediator in the relationship between attitude towards IDF and usage intention. Gender and Islamic religiosity were examined as moderators through Multi-Group analysis. Utilizing data from 266 Moroccan MSMEs, we applied structural equation modeling for empirical evaluation.

Results revealed direct relationships with financial literacy, risk perception, and cost perception negatively affecting attitude toward IDF. Financial suitability is inversely related to attitude toward IDF. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy and subjective norms positively influenced entrepreneurial achievement motivation. Attitude toward IDF positively impacted entrepreneurial achievement motivation, and both attitude toward IDF and entrepreneurial achievement motivation were linked to the intention to use IDF. Empirical findings indicated that entrepreneurial achievement motivation partially mediates the relationship between attitude towards IDF and usage intention. Multi-group analysis revealed a significant moderating effect of Islamic religiosity on three out of nine structural relationships.

This study is primarily limited by the absence of a longitudinal examination tracking real usage behavior. Moreover, data collection focused on analyzing the behavioral intention to use Islamic debt-based financing products, excluding equity-based financing instruments. Finally, our proposed model concentrates on establishing usage intention solely based on demand-side factors without explicitly integrating supply-side consideration.

Our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of IDF adoption behavior and have the potential to support the development of more effective public policies, targeted promotional campaigns, and impactful financial education programs for MSMEs in similar markets.

This paper represents the first attempt to address MSMEs’ apprehensions regarding Islamic debt-based financing products in the MENA region.