IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/acctfi/v63y2023i5p4823-4847.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Deleveraging for talents: Human capital reliance and corporate leverage

Author

Listed:
  • YunGuo Liu
  • Minghui Zheng
  • Yue Xu
  • Sujuan Xie

Abstract

Using data from Chinese listed firms, we develop a measure of a firm's reliance on human capital that is based on its demand for highly educated employees. We find that a high reliance on human capital is linked to low corporate leverage, and this effect is more pronounced among firms at a high risk of human capital mobility and those facing high skilled‐labour adjustment costs. Our results indicate that firms strategically manage their capital structure to maintain financial flexibility, enabling them to effectively respond to the labour‐related costs associated with human capital losses and costly labour adjustments.

Suggested Citation

  • YunGuo Liu & Minghui Zheng & Yue Xu & Sujuan Xie, 2023. "Deleveraging for talents: Human capital reliance and corporate leverage," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(5), pages 4823-4847, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:63:y:2023:i:5:p:4823-4847
    DOI: 10.1111/acfi.13142
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.13142
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/acfi.13142?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alexander Dyck & Adair Morse & Luigi Zingales, 2010. "Who Blows the Whistle on Corporate Fraud?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(6), pages 2213-2253, December.
    2. Agrawal, Ashwini K. & Matsa, David A., 2013. "Labor unemployment risk and corporate financing decisions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(2), pages 449-470.
    3. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1995. "What Do We Know about Capital Structure? Some Evidence from International Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(5), pages 1421-1460, December.
    4. Andrea L. Eisfeldt & Dimitris Papanikolaou, 2013. "Organization Capital and the Cross-Section of Expected Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(4), pages 1365-1406, August.
    5. Muehlemann, Samuel & Strupler Leiser, Mirjam, 2018. "Hiring costs and labor market tightness," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 122-131.
    6. Manning, Alan, 2003. "The real thin theory: monopsony in modern labour markets," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 105-131, April.
    7. Mark C. Anderson & Rajiv D. Banker & Surya N. Janakiraman, 2003. "Are Selling, General, and Administrative Costs “Sticky”?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(1), pages 47-63, March.
    8. Frederico Belo & Jun Li & Xiaoji Lin & Xiaofei Zhao, 2017. "Labor-Force Heterogeneity and Asset Prices: The Importance of Skilled Labor," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(10), pages 3669-3709.
    9. Jonathan B. Berk & Richard Stanton & Josef Zechner, 2010. "Human Capital, Bankruptcy, and Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(3), pages 891-926, June.
    10. Barro, Robert J. & Lee, Jong Wha, 2013. "A new data set of educational attainment in the world, 1950–2010," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 184-198.
    11. Muzhi Wang & Weichen Yan, 2022. "Brain Gain: The Effect of Employee Quality on Corporate Social Responsibility," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 58(4), pages 679-713, December.
    12. Wei, Chunyan & Hu, Shiyang & Chen, Feng, 2020. "Do political connection disruptions increase labor costs in a government-dominated market? Evidence from publicly listed companies in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    13. Kim, Hyunseob, 2020. "How does labor market size affect firm capital structure? Evidence from large plant openings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(1), pages 277-294.
    14. David A. Matsa, 2018. "Capital Structure and a Firm's Workforce," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 10(1), pages 387-412, November.
    15. Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2003. "Enjoying the Quiet Life? Corporate Governance and Managerial Preferences," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(5), pages 1043-1075, October.
    16. Gary S. Becker, 1962. "Investment in Human Capital: A Theoretical Analysis," NBER Chapters, in: Investment in Human Beings, pages 9-49, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Luigi Zingales, 2000. "In Search of New Foundations," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1623-1653, August.
    18. Kong, Dongmin & Zhang, Bohui & Zhang, Jian, 2022. "Higher education and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    19. Mo Shen & David Denis, 2021. "Skilled Labor Mobility and Firm Value: Evidence from Green Card Allocations," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(10), pages 4663-4700.
    20. Carol Corrado & Charles Hulten & Daniel Sichel, 2009. "Intangible Capital And U.S. Economic Growth," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 55(3), pages 661-685, September.
    21. Chong-En Bai & Jiangyong Lu & Zhigang Tao, 2006. "The Multitask Theory of State Enterprise Reform: Empirical Evidence from China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 353-357, May.
    22. Peters, Ryan H. & Taylor, Lucian A., 2017. "Intangible capital and the investment-q relation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(2), pages 251-272.
    23. Michael Greenstone & Richard Hornbeck & Enrico Moretti, 2010. "Identifying Agglomeration Spillovers: Evidence from Winners and Losers of Large Plant Openings," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 118(3), pages 536-598, June.
    24. Yi Che & Lei Zhang, 2018. "Human Capital, Technology Adoption and Firm Performance: Impacts of China's Higher Education Expansion in the Late 1990s," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(614), pages 2282-2320, September.
    25. Mauer, David C & Triantis, Alexander J, 1994. "Interactions of Corporate Financing and Investment Decisions: A Dynamic Framework," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(4), pages 1253-1277, September.
    26. Bae, Jaewan & Kang, Jangkoo, 2023. "Human capital quality and stock returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    27. Andrea L. Eisfeldt & Dimitris Papanikolaou, 2014. "The Value and Ownership of Intangible Capital," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 189-194, May.
    28. Acemoglu, Daron & Autor, David, 2011. "Skills, Tasks and Technologies: Implications for Employment and Earnings," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 12, pages 1043-1171, Elsevier.
    29. Titman, Sheridan, 1984. "The effect of capital structure on a firm's liquidation decision," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 137-151, March.
    30. Klasa, Sandy & Ortiz-Molina, Hernán & Serfling, Matthew & Srinivasan, Shweta, 2018. "Protection of trade secrets and capital structure decisions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(2), pages 266-286.
    31. Ramin P. Baghai & Rui C. Silva & Viktor Thell & Vikrant Vig, 2021. "Talent in Distressed Firms: Investigating the Labor Costs of Financial Distress," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 76(6), pages 2907-2961, December.
    32. Alan Manning, 2006. "A Generalised Model of Monopsony," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(508), pages 84-100, January.
    33. Huasheng Gao & Huai Zhang & Jin Zhang, 2018. "Employee turnover likelihood and earnings management: evidence from the inevitable disclosure doctrine," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 1424-1470, December.
    34. Chen, Zhiyao & Harford, Jarrad & Kamara, Avraham, 2019. "Operating Leverage, Profitability, and Capital Structure," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 54(1), pages 369-392, February.
    35. Ellul, Andrew & Pagano, Marco, 2019. "Corporate leverage and employees’ rights in bankruptcy," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(3), pages 685-707.
    36. Mohamed Ghaly & Viet Anh Dang & Konstantinos Stathopoulos, 2017. "Cash Holdings and Labor Heterogeneity: The Role of Skilled Labor," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(10), pages 3636-3668.
    37. Elena Simintzi & Vikrant Vig & Paolo Volpin, 2015. "Labor Protection and Leverage," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(2), pages 561-591.
    38. Mandelker, Gershon N. & Rhee, S. Ghon, 1984. "The Impact of the Degrees of Operating and Financial Leverage on Systematic Risk of Common Stock," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 45-57, March.
    39. Zhaoyang Gu & Song Tang & Donghui Wu, 2020. "The Political Economy of Labor Employment Decisions: Evidence from China," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(10), pages 4703-4725, October.
    40. Dey, Aiyesha & White, Joshua T., 2021. "Labor mobility and antitakeover provisions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2).
    41. Call, Andrew C. & Campbell, John L. & Dhaliwal, Dan S. & Moon, James R., 2017. "Employee quality and financial reporting outcomes," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 123-149.
    42. David A. Matsa, 2010. "Capital Structure as a Strategic Variable: Evidence from Collective Bargaining," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(3), pages 1197-1232, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David A. Matsa, 2018. "Capital Structure and a Firm’s Workforce," NBER Working Papers 25125, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Dang, Viet A. & De Cesari, Amedeo & Phan, Hieu V., 2021. "Employment protection and share repurchases: Evidence from wrongful discharge laws," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    3. Liu, Guanchun & Liu, Yuanyuan & Zhang, Chengsi & Zhu, Yueteng, 2021. "Social insurance law and corporate financing decisions in China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 816-837.
    4. Karpuz, Ahmet & Luo, Di & Xiao, Rongbing & Zhao, Huainan, 2023. "The effect of labour protection laws on the relationship between leverage and wages," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    5. Jiang, Jiaoliang & Chen, Yulin, 2021. "How does labor protection influence corporate risk-taking? Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    6. Nguyen, Justin Hung & Qiu, Buhui, 2022. "Right-to-Work laws and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    7. Kim, Hyunseob, 2020. "How does labor market size affect firm capital structure? Evidence from large plant openings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(1), pages 277-294.
    8. Ghaly, Mohamed & Dang, Viet Anh & Stathopoulos, Konstantinos, 2015. "Cash holdings and employee welfare," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 53-70.
    9. Brockman, Paul & Luo, Juan & Xu, Limin, 2020. "The impact of short-selling pressure on corporate employee relations," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    10. Bae, Jaewan & Kang, Jangkoo, 2023. "Human capital quality and stock returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    11. Cao, Zhangfan & Rees, William, 2020. "Do employee-friendly firms invest more efficiently? Evidence from labor investment efficiency," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    12. Jie (Jack) He & Tao Shu & Huan Yang, 2018. "The Employee Clientele of Corporate Leverage: Evidence from Personal Labor Income Diversification," Working Papers 18-01, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    13. Olga Kuzmina, 2023. "Employment Flexibility and Capital Structure: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(9), pages 4992-5017, September.
    14. Yue Qiu & Tracy Yue Wang, 2021. "Skilled Labor Risk and Corporate Policies [The growth of low skill service jobs and the polarization of the U.S. labor market]," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(3), pages 437-472.
    15. Chino, Atsushi, 2016. "Do labor unions affect firm payout policy?: Operating leverage and rent extraction effects," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 156-178.
    16. Olga Kuzmina, 2013. "Operating Flexibility and Capital Structure: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Working Papers w0197, Center for Economic and Financial Research (CEFIR).
    17. Daniel Greene & Jaideep Shenoy, 2022. "How Do Anti-discrimination Laws Affect Firm Performance and Financial Policies? Evidence from the Post-World War II Period," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(5), pages 3813-3833, May.
    18. Vega-Gutierrez, Pedro Luis & López-Iturriaga, Félix J. & Rodriguez-Sanz, Juan Antonio, 2021. "Labour market conditions and the corporate financing decision: A European analysis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    19. USHIJIMA Tatsuo, 2016. "Corporate Diversification, Employee Bargaining Power, and Wages," Discussion papers 16103, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    20. Cao, Zhangfan & Chen, Steven Xianglong & Lee, Edward, 2022. "Does business strategy influence interfirm financing? Evidence from trade credit," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 495-511.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:63:y:2023:i:5:p:4823-4847. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaanzea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.