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1 – 10 of 346This study aims to examine the influence of ownership structure and board composition on the probability and intensity of stock repurchases. The study’s sample comprises 3,744…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the influence of ownership structure and board composition on the probability and intensity of stock repurchases. The study’s sample comprises 3,744 firm-year observations, consisting of 53 repurchasing firms with 96 firm-year observations from 2008 to 2019.
Design/methodology/approach
Probit and fixed-effects regression models are used to obtain empirical results. Moreover, a probit model with a continuous endogenous regressor (IV-probit) and an instrumental variable method with two-stage least squares (IV-2SLS) estimation are used to address endogeneity.
Findings
Corporations with high family or state ownership tend to inhibit stock repurchases to hoard excess free cash flow, supporting agency theory. Conversely, firms with high board independence tend to repurchase their stocks at least once to distribute free cash flows to shareholders, confirming agency theory. Nonetheless, corporations with more female directors on the board or CEO duality tend to conduct stock repurchases at least once but do not repurchase stocks with high values. Interestingly, more female directors on the board may send false signals about undervalued stocks.
Originality/value
This is the first study to reveal that firms with CEO duality repurchase their stocks at least once but avoid repurchasing shares with high values. It is also the first study to explore whether women on a board may cause false signaling about undervalued stocks. Furthermore, this study reveals that family and state ownership are potential determinants of stock repurchases in countries with high ownership concentration. This is the first study to address this issue in Thailand.
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Raghavan Iyengar and Barry Shuster
Outstanding unexercised stock options can motivate managers to engage in actions that increase the value of their company’s stock, including buying back their firm’s stock. The…
Abstract
Purpose
Outstanding unexercised stock options can motivate managers to engage in actions that increase the value of their company’s stock, including buying back their firm’s stock. The objective of granting stock options to managers is to align their interests with stockholders by tying a portion of their compensation to the company’s stock performance. However, unexercised stock options may have unintended consequences by providing managers with a vested interest in artificially boosting stock prices via stock buybacks. The primary objective of this research is to study the main factors that influence firms' buyback decisions amongst hospitality firms at a time when these firms were clamoring for taxpayer bailouts. Results from logistic regression seem to suggest that outstanding executive stock options are a major contributory factor in a firm’s buyback decision. Estimates also indicate that larger, more profitable firms will likely engage in stock buybacks. These findings survive a battery of tests.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use logistic regression to predict the probability of a firm’s buyback decision based on a given set of exogenous explanatory variables.
Findings
The paper supports the hypothesis that buyback decisions are guided by the motive to prop support stock prices in the presence of outstanding restricted stock options/warrants granted to firms' executives.
Research limitations/implications
The paper focuses on the buyback decision of U.S. hospitality firms. The results, therefore, might not be generalizable to firms in other industries or countries.
Practical implications
U.S. share repurchase corporate policy and government regulation needs to be revisited given the economic imperative for firms to invest in activities to restore employment and put them in a position for economic recovery.
Social implications
Public criticism of the size, structure and form (i.e. loan vs grant) of COVID-19 bailouts warrants an examination of whether the factors that drive hospitality and tourism firms to repurchase shares support economic recovery.
Originality/value
Consistent with agency theory, the authors find a significant positive association between outstanding restricted stocks and a firm’s decision to support the stock prices by buying back shares.
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Viput Ongsakul, Pandej Chintrakarn, Suwongrat Papangkorn and Pornsit Jiraporn
Taking advantage of distinctive text-based measures of climate policy uncertainty and firm-specific exposure to climate change, this study aims to examine the impact of…
Abstract
Purpose
Taking advantage of distinctive text-based measures of climate policy uncertainty and firm-specific exposure to climate change, this study aims to examine the impact of firm-specific vulnerability on dividend policy.
Design/methodology/approach
To mitigate endogeneity, the authors apply an instrumental-variable analysis based on climate policy uncertainty as well as use additional analysis using propensity score matching and entropy balancing.
Findings
The authors show that an increase in climate policy uncertainty exacerbates firm-specific exposure considerably. Exploiting climate policy uncertainty to generate exogenous variation in firm-specific exposure, the authors demonstrate that companies more susceptible to climate change are significantly less likely to pay dividends and those that do pay dividends pay significantly smaller dividends. For instance, a rise in firm-specific exposure by one standard deviation weakens the propensity to pay dividends by 5.11%. Climate policy uncertainty originates at the national level, beyond the control of individual firms and is thus plausibly exogenous, making endogeneity less likely.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first attempt in the literature to investigate the effect of firm-specific exposure on dividend policy using a rigorous empirical framework that is less vulnerable to endogeneity and is more likely to show a causal influence, rather than a mere correlation.
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Shifang Zhao, Xu Jiang and Yoojung Ahn
Research on the effect of executive equity incentives is equivocal. Based on agency theory, some scholars take the convergence of interest logic to highlight the benefits of…
Abstract
Purpose
Research on the effect of executive equity incentives is equivocal. Based on agency theory, some scholars take the convergence of interest logic to highlight the benefits of executive equity incentives. In contrast, others adopt the entrenchment logic to emphasize the increased agency costs. This study attempts to reconcile the debate on executive equity incentives and integrates the opposing views to unveil how executive equity incentives impact corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the panel dataset of Chinese A-share listed firms from 2006 to 2022, this study integrates the convergence of interest and entrenchment logic to examine how executive equity incentives affect CSR performance.
Findings
We find that the relationship between executive equity incentives and CSR performance follows an inverted U-shaped form. According to the convergence of interest logic, executive equity incentives reduce agency costs when allocating resources to engage in CSR activities and enable firms to increase their CSR investments, ultimately realizing increased CSR performance. After a threshold, however, the accumulation of extensive equity incentives causes the entrenchment effect, resulting in declined CSR performance. Our empirical results also shed new light on its contingent perspective – the inverted U-shaped relationship is attenuated when firms’ stock liquidity is high.
Originality/value
This study attempts to reconcile the debate on executive equity incentives and integrates the opposing views to unveil the inverted U-shaped relationship between executive equity incentives and CSR performance. Our study opens promising avenues for further research on corporate governance and CSR strategies.
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The aim of this article is to assess the macroeconomic consequences of some specific aspects of financialization (i.e. share buy-back) using a hybrid post-Keynesian model of…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this article is to assess the macroeconomic consequences of some specific aspects of financialization (i.e. share buy-back) using a hybrid post-Keynesian model of growth and distribution based on Kaldorian and Kaleckian characteristics.
Design/methodology/approach
The study follows a post-Keynesian approach and deals with financialization issues by implementing several numerical simulations.
Findings
The numerical simulations reveal the negative real impacts of massive share repurchases on the rate of accumulation because they immediately siphon off revenues directly intended for investment projects. Moreover, the negative effect of share buy-backs is reinforced especially when firms' investment decisions are more sensitive to a variation in retained earnings. Next, this macro-model also reproduces several well-known figures of the Kaleckian tradition and the paradox of costs.
Research limitations/implications
The present article can be considered as a starting point for further theoretical extensions and requires empirical validation.
Originality/value
The Kaldor-Kalecki macro-model could be useful for policymakers who are interested in containing some of the negative excesses of financialization.
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Ali A. Awad, Radhi Al-Hamadeen and Malek Alsharairi
This paper aims to examine and compare the dividend ratios’ statistical and economic ability to predict the equity premium in the UK and US markets and two US sub-indices (S&P 500…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine and compare the dividend ratios’ statistical and economic ability to predict the equity premium in the UK and US markets and two US sub-indices (S&P 500 Growth and S&P 500 Value).
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, the authors use the linear regression models to examine the dividend ratios’ statistical ability to predict the equity premium. The in-sample and out-of-sample approaches, including Diebold and Mariano (1995) statistics, and Goyal and Welch’s (2003) graphical approach, are used. Also, the mean-variance analysis is used to test the economic significance.
Findings
The paper findings indicate that the dividend ratios have in-sample and out-of-sample predictive abilities in both UK and US markets and both US sub-indices. However, the results show that the dividend ratios have a less impressive predictive ability in the US market compared to the UK market and less in the US value index than the US growth index. This could indicate that there is no relation between the number of companies that distribute dividends in each index and the informativeness of dividends ratios. Furthermore, the tests show the dividend ratios’ predictive ability departure during particular periods and in some indices.
Research limitations/implications
Results and implications of this research are exclusively applied to the US and UK markets. These results can also be applied with caution to other markets, taking into consideration the distinctive characteristics of these markets.
Practical implications
Results revealed in this paper imply that the investors in any of the indices may experience economic gain by adopting a dynamic trading strategy using the information content of the dividend ratios prediction models instead of the benchmark model, which is the prevailing simple moving average model.
Originality/value
This paper adds value through testing the prediction models’ economic significance in two well-developed markets, in addition to exploring the relationship between the number of companies distributing cash dividends and the dividends ratio prediction ability. Unlike most of the previous studies in which dividend ratios’ prediction ability is attributed to the number of companies that distribute dividends in the market, this paper denied this interpretation by studying two S&P 500 sub-indices. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to test the prediction models’ ability for these sub-indices.
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Grant Richardson, Grantley Taylor and Mostafa Hasan
This study examines the importance of income income-shifting arrangements of US multinational corporations (MNCs) on future stock price crash risk.
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the importance of income income-shifting arrangements of US multinational corporations (MNCs) on future stock price crash risk.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs a sample of 7,641 corporation-year observations over the 2005–2017 period and uses ordinary least squares regression analysis.
Findings
The authors find that the income-shifting arrangements of MNCs are positively and significantly associated with stock price crash risk after controlling for corporate tax avoidance and other known determinants of stock price crash risk in the regression model. This result is robust to alternative measures of stock price crash risk and income-shifting, and several endogeneity tests. The authors also observe that income-shifting arrangements increase stock price crash risk both directly and indirectly through the information opacity channel. Finally, in cross-sectional analyses, the authors find that the positive association between income-shifting and stock price crash risk is more pronounced for MNCs that use tax haven subsidiaries and have weak corporate governance mechanisms.
Originality/value
The authors provide new empirical evidence that MNCs will likely face significant capital market consequences regarding their income-shifting arrangements.
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High economic policy uncertainty forces firms to accumulate a higher level of cash than during normal business periods. However, it is not evident that economic policy uncertainty…
Abstract
Purpose
High economic policy uncertainty forces firms to accumulate a higher level of cash than during normal business periods. However, it is not evident that economic policy uncertainty has a homogeneous impact across cash-holding distributions. This paper aims to study the impact of economic policy uncertainty, leverage and their interaction on cash-holding distributions.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopted a quantile regression approach to examine the influence of economic policy uncertainty and firm leverage on firm-level cash-holding distributions. To investigate the influence across quantiles, the author estimated 19 quantiles between 0.05 and 0.95.
Findings
This study finds that both economic policy uncertainty and firm leverage significantly affect firm-level cash-holding distributions heterogeneously. But, the impact of the interaction of these two variables is significant only for firms placed in the 60th to 85th quantiles of cash holding distribution.
Originality/value
The study adds to the existing knowledge of determinants of firm-level cash holdings but takes exogenous variables as economic policy uncertainty. The paper builds on a unique sample setting wherein, the cash holdings of all nonfinancial firms have increased many folds, including housing companies in an emerging economy.
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Nomanyano Primrose Mnyaka-Rulwa and Joseph Olorunfemi Akande
Agency theory motivated this study, posing that leverage mitigates the agency problem. The aim was to examine whether leverage influences the relationship between…
Abstract
Purpose
Agency theory motivated this study, posing that leverage mitigates the agency problem. The aim was to examine whether leverage influences the relationship between executive-employee pay gaps (EEPGs) and firm performance. The study was conducted in the mining and retail sectors between 2012 and 2021.
Design/methodology/approach
Two EEPGs were featured based on their executive fixed pay and variable incentives accumulation. Proxies of firm performance were headline earnings per share; return on assets; earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation; and return on stock price. Data were collected from 76 JSE-listed firms in the retail and mining sectors and analysed using the two-step generalised method of moments.
Findings
The results revealed the hybrid implication of the pay gap for firm performance in the retail and mining sectors of South Africa, depending on the performance measures emphasised. More importantly, the study shows that with the moderating effects of leverage, firms can improve their performance while shrinking the pay gap.
Practical implications
The results have implications for policy addressing income inequality, debt management, executive compensation and regulatory reforms in South Africa concerning productivity and remuneration decisions.
Originality/value
The article provides specific literature for retail and mining industries on pay gaps, shows that it is possible to reduce the pay gap without compromising performance and suggests a new measure of performance that is more attuned to pay gap effect measurement.
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Runze Ling, Ailing Pan and Lei Xu
This study examines the impact of China’s mixed-ownership reform on the innovation of non-state-owned acquirers, with a particular focus on the impact on firms with high financing…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the impact of China’s mixed-ownership reform on the innovation of non-state-owned acquirers, with a particular focus on the impact on firms with high financing constraints, low-quality accounting information or less tangible assets.
Design/methodology/approach
We use a proprietary dataset of firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges to investigate the impact of mixed ownership reform on non-state-owned enterprise (non-SOE) innovation. We employ regression analysis to examine the association between mixed ownership reform and firm innovation.
Findings
The study finds that non-state-owned firms can improve innovation by acquiring equity in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) under the reform. Eased financing constraints, lowered financing costs, better access to tax incentives or government subsidies, lowered agency costs, better accounting information quality and more credit loans are underlying the impact. Additionally, cross-ownership connections amongst non-SOE executives and government intervention strengthen the impact, whilst regional marketisation weakens it.
Originality/value
This study adds to the literature on the association between mixed ownership reform and firm innovation by focussing on the conditions under which this impact is stronger. It also sheds light on the policy implications for SOE reforms in emerging economies.
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