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Political connections, founder-managers, and their impact on tunneling in China's listed firms

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  • Ma, Liangbo
  • Ma, Shiguang
  • Tian, Gary

Abstract

We investigate the impact of manager political connection and founder status on tunneling in China's listed firms from 2004 to 2010. By classifying the political connections into three dimensions with two categories of controlling ownerships, we find that overall manager political connection is negatively related to tunneling in private firms but positively related to tunneling in SOEs. The CPC/CPPCC-type connection is likely to protect firms from tunneling, while the official-type connection facilitates tunneling from firms. The impact of these two types of political connection on tunneling is stronger at the central level than the local level. A chairman's political connection has significantly greater influence on tunneling than a CEO's connection. We also find that firms with founder-managers have a stronger resistance to tunneling than those with non-founder-managers, which is still observed in firms with politically connected founder-managers. Our results show that the incentives of various managers towards tunneling depend on their motivation for establishing relevant political connections.

Suggested Citation

  • Ma, Liangbo & Ma, Shiguang & Tian, Gary, 2013. "Political connections, founder-managers, and their impact on tunneling in China's listed firms," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 312-339.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pacfin:v:24:y:2013:i:c:p:312-339
    DOI: 10.1016/j.pacfin.2013.07.001
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    3. Zhang, Huiming & Li, Lianshui & Zhou, Dequn & Zhou, Peng, 2014. "Political connections, government subsidies and firm financial performance: Evidence from renewable energy manufacturing in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 330-336.
    4. Habib, Ahsan & Ranasinghe, Dinithi & Muhammadi, Abdul Haris & Islam, Ainul, 2018. "Political connections, financial reporting and auditing: Survey of the empirical literature," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 37-51.
    5. repec:zbw:bofitp:2016_020 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Shen, Chung-Hua & Bui, Dien Giau & Lin, Chih-Yung, 2017. "Do political factors affect stock returns during presidential elections?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 180-198.
    7. Fuxiu Jiang & Xiaojia Zheng & Wei Tang, 2018. "Non-family chair and corporate performance," Frontiers of Business Research in China, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-30, December.
    8. Jia, Junxue & Ma, Guangrong, 2017. "Do R&D tax incentives work? Firm-level evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 50-66.
    9. Lien‐Wen Liang & Tsui‐Jung Lin & Hui‐Fun Yu & Ya‐Wen Li, 2022. "The impact of political connection and board diversity on company performance: Evidence from China," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(6), pages 2347-2357, September.
    10. Yu, Xin & Zheng, Ying, 2019. "The value of political ties for firms experiencing enforcement actions: Evidence from China," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 24-45.
    11. Liangbo Ma & Shiguang Ma & Gary Tian, 2017. "Corporate Opacity and Cost of Debt for Family Firms," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(1), pages 27-59, January.
    12. Abdul Aziz Khan Niazi & Tehmina Fiaz Qazi & Abdul Basit, 2019. "Expounding the Structure of Slyer Ways of Tunneling in Pakistan," Global Regional Review, Humanity Only, vol. 4(2), pages 329-343, June.
    13. Habib, Ahsan & Muhammadi, Abdul Haris & Jiang, Haiyan, 2017. "Political Connections and Related Party Transactions: Evidence from Indonesia," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 45-63.
    14. Jackowicz, Krzysztof & Kozłowski, Łukasz & Mielcarz, Paweł, 2014. "Political connections and operational performance of non-financial firms: New evidence from Poland," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 109-135.
    15. Stephen Gray & Iman Harymawan & John Nowland, 2016. "Political and government connections on corporate boards in Australia: Good for business?," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 41(1), pages 3-26, February.
    16. Wang, Yizhong & Yao, Chengxue & Kang, Di, 2019. "Political connections and firm performance: Evidence from government officials' site visits," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    17. Defeng Yang & Zhanqing Wang & Fangmin Lu, 2019. "The Influence of Corporate Governance and Operating Characteristics on Corporate Environmental Investment: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-18, May.
    18. Ma, Liangbo & Ma, Shiguang & Tian, Gary, 2016. "Family control, accounting misstatements, and market reactions to restatements: Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 1-27.
    19. Habib, Ahsan & Muhammadi, Abdul Haris & Jiang, Haiyan, 2017. "Political connections, related party transactions, and auditor choice: Evidence from Indonesia," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 1-19.
    20. Gu, Leilei & Ni, Xiaoran & Tian, Guangning, 2022. "Controlling shareholder expropriation and labor investment efficiency," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 261-274.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Tunneling; Political connection; Founder-manager; Chairman; CEO;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

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