IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v48y2022ics154461232200191x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Labor investment efficiency and credit ratings

Author

Listed:
  • Habib, Ahsan
  • Ranasinghe, Dinithi

Abstract

We examine the relationship between labor investment efficiency and credit ratings. Using a sample of U.S. firm spanning the period 1987 to 2016, we document that inefficient labor investment decreases firm credit ratings. Our results remain robust to possible endogeneity concerns. We also document that financial distress, earnings volatility, and firm life cycle moderate the relationship between inefficient labor investments and credit ratings.

Suggested Citation

  • Habib, Ahsan & Ranasinghe, Dinithi, 2022. "Labor investment efficiency and credit ratings," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:48:y:2022:i:c:s154461232200191x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2022.102924
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S154461232200191X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2022.102924?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jeff L. McMullin & Bryce Schonberger, 2020. "Entropy-balanced accruals," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 84-119, March.
    2. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    3. Taylor, Grantley & Al-Hadi, Ahmed & Richardson, Grant & Alfarhan, Usamah & Al-Yahyaee, Khamis, 2019. "Is there a relation between labor investment inefficiency and corporate tax avoidance?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 185-201.
    4. Hainmueller, Jens, 2012. "Entropy Balancing for Causal Effects: A Multivariate Reweighting Method to Produce Balanced Samples in Observational Studies," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 25-46, January.
    5. Larcker, David F. & Rusticus, Tjomme O., 2010. "On the use of instrumental variables in accounting research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 186-205, April.
    6. Ben-Nasr, Hamdi & Alshwer, Abdullah A., 2016. "Does stock price informativeness affect labor investment efficiency?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 249-271.
    7. Ahsan Habib & Mostafa M. Hasan, 2021. "Business Strategy and Labor Investment Efficiency," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 21(1), pages 58-96, March.
    8. Magnus Blomkvist & Anders Löflund & Hitesh Vyas, 2021. "Credit ratings and firm life-cycle," Post-Print hal-02887246, HAL.
    9. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    10. Kimberly J. Cornaggia & Gopal V. Krishnan & Changjiang Wang, 2017. "Managerial Ability and Credit Ratings," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 34(4), pages 2094-2122, December.
    11. Ghaly, Mohamed & Dang, Viet Anh & Stathopoulos, Konstantinos, 2015. "Cash holdings and employee welfare," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 53-70.
    12. Mei Cheng & K. R. Subramanyam, 2008. "Analyst Following and Credit Ratings," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(4), pages 1007-1044, December.
    13. Kothari, S.P. & Leone, Andrew J. & Wasley, Charles E., 2005. "Performance matched discretionary accrual measures," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 163-197, February.
    14. Elena Simintzi & Vikrant Vig & Paolo Volpin, 2015. "Labor Protection and Leverage," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(2), pages 561-591.
    15. Habib, Ahsan & Hasan, Mostafa Monzur, 2019. "Corporate life cycle research in accounting, finance and corporate governance: A survey, and directions for future research," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 188-201.
    16. Roychowdhury, Sugata, 2006. "Earnings management through real activities manipulation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 335-370, December.
    17. Boochun Jung & Woo†Jong Lee & David P. Weber, 2014. "Financial Reporting Quality and Labor Investment Efficiency," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(4), pages 1047-1076, December.
    18. Najah Attig & Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Jungwon Suh, 2013. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Credit Ratings," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(4), pages 679-694, November.
    19. Ha, Joohyung & Feng, Mingming, 2018. "Conditional conservatism and labor investment efficiency," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 143-163.
    20. Blomkvist, Magnus & Löflund, Anders & Vyas, Hitesh, 2021. "Credit ratings and firm life-cycle," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Habib, Ahsan & Ranasinghe, Dinithi, 2022. "Asset redeployability and credit ratings," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    2. Panta, Humnath & Narayanasamy, Arun & Panta, Ayush, 2023. "Organizational capital and credit ratings," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    3. Huang, Xinhui & Tarkom, Augustine, 2022. "Labor investment efficiency and cash flow volatility," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).

    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. Chowdhury, Hasibul & Hossain, Ashrafee & Tan, Kelvin & Zheng, Jiayi, 2022. "Do external labor market incentives improve labor investment efficiency?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C).
    2. Habib, Ahsan & Ranasinghe, Dinithi, 2022. "Asset redeployability and credit ratings," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    3. Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Hossain, Ashrafee & Hossain, Takdir, 2023. "CEO inside debt holdings and credit ratings," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1).
    4. Chowdhury, Hasibul & Hossain, Ashrafee & Masum, Abdullah-Al & Zheng, Jiayi, 2023. "Does corporate sexual orientation equality affect labor investment efficiency?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    5. Godsell, David & Huang, Kelly & Lao, Brent, 2023. "Managers’ rank & file employee coordination costs and real activities manipulation," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    6. 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).
    7. Hu, Juncheng, 2021. "Do facilitation payments affect earnings management? Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    8. Cao, June & Li, Wenwen & Hasan, Iftekhar, 2023. "The impact of lowering carbon emissions on corporate labour investment: A quasi-natural experiment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    9. Panta, Humnath & Narayanasamy, Arun & Panta, Ayush, 2023. "Organizational capital and credit ratings," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    10. Mostafa Monzur Hasan & Grantley Taylor & Grant Richardson, 2022. "Brand Capital and Stock Price Crash Risk," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(10), pages 7221-7247, October.
    11. Fan, Rui & Pan, Jianping & Yu, Minggui & Gao, Hao, 2022. "Corporate governance of controlling shareholders and labor employment decisions: Evidence from a parent board reform in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    12. Costa, Mabel D. & Habib, Ahsan, 2023. "Local creative culture and audit fees," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(2).
    13. Habib, Ahsan & Hasan, Mostafa Monzur, 2017. "Business strategy, overvalued equities, and stock price crash risk," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(PA), pages 389-405.
    14. Griffin, Paul A. & Hong, Hyun A. & Liu, Yun & Ryou, Ji Woo, 2021. "The dark side of CEO social capital: Evidence from real earnings management and future operating performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    15. Lai, Shaojie & Li, Xiaorong & Liu, Shiang & Wang, Qing Sophie, 2022. "Institutional investors’ site visits and corporate employment decision-making," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3).
    16. Searat Ali & Benjamin Liu & Jen Je Su, 2022. "Does corporate governance have a differential effect on downside and upside risk?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(9-10), pages 1642-1695, October.
    17. Ahsan Habib & Mostafa M. Hasan, 2021. "Business Strategy and Labor Investment Efficiency," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 21(1), pages 58-96, March.
    18. Jia, Jing & Li, Zhongtian, 2022. "Risk management committees and readability of risk management disclosure," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3).
    19. Ma, Guangyuan & Kong, Dongmin & Liu, Shasha, 2023. "Credit stimulus and corporate excess employees," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    20. Mostafa Monzur Hasan & Ahsan Habib & Ruoyun Zhao, 2022. "Corporate reputation risk and cash holdings," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(1), pages 667-707, March.

    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:eee:finlet:v:48:y:2022:i:c:s154461232200191x. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    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.