IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/eurasi/v12y2022i3d10.1007_s40821-021-00191-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does foreign institutional ownership mediate the nexus between board diversity and the risk of financial distress? A case of an emerging economy of China

Author

Listed:
  • Shoukat Ali

    (The University of Lahore
    The Islamia University of Bahawalpur)

  • Ramiz ur Rehman

    (The University of Lahore
    Sohar University)

  • Wang Yuan

    (Xi’an Polytechnic University)

  • Muhammad Ishfaq Ahmad

    (The University of Lahore)

  • Rizwan Ali

    (The University of Lahore)

Abstract

The study aims to empirically analyze the effect of board diversity measurement in demographic diversity (i.e., age, gender, and nationality) and cognitive diversity (i.e., education, financial expertise, and tenure) dimensions on the probability of financial distress in an emerging market, China. Additionally, evaluate whether foreign institutional ownership mediates between board diversity and financial distress nexus. Distinctly, the fixed-effects of panel regression method are employed to examine a sample of 13,740 firm-year observations covered from 2009 to 2018. The study reveals that board diversity reduces financial distress likelihood, and foreign institutional ownership mediates this relationship. Further, applied two-stage GMM to resolve the possible endogenous problem, and the robust models also verified the results. First, the study findings contribute particularly in the Chinese context that board diversity is positively associated with financial distress, suggesting that diverse boards are helpful to reduce financial distress likelihood. Second, foreign ownership is attracted through the improved board diversity. Third, foreign ownership has a substantial impact on shaping the board diversity’s effect on the likelihood of financial distress. The study findings are novel and imply that firms having diverse boards attract foreign institutional ownership by reducing asymmetric information. Subsequently, foreign institutional investors are helping to reduce financial distress likelihood.

Suggested Citation

  • Shoukat Ali & Ramiz ur Rehman & Wang Yuan & Muhammad Ishfaq Ahmad & Rizwan Ali, 2022. "Does foreign institutional ownership mediate the nexus between board diversity and the risk of financial distress? A case of an emerging economy of China," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 12(3), pages 553-581, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eurasi:v:12:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s40821-021-00191-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s40821-021-00191-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40821-021-00191-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s40821-021-00191-z?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. Cristian Pinto-Gutiérrez & Carlos Pombo & Jairo Villamil-Díaz, 2018. "Board Capital Diversity and Firm Value: Evidence from Latin-America," Documentos CEDE 16972, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    2. Ahsan Habib & Mabel D' Costa & Hedy Jiaying Huang & Md. Borhan Uddin Bhuiyan & Li Sun, 2020. "Determinants and consequences of financial distress: review of the empirical literature," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(S1), pages 1023-1075, April.
    3. Hoje Jo & Maretno Harjoto, 2011. "Corporate Governance and Firm Value: The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 103(3), pages 351-383, October.
    4. Harjoto, Maretno A. & Laksmana, Indrarini & Yang, Ya-wen, 2018. "Board diversity and corporate investment oversight," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 40-47.
    5. Manzaneque, Montserrat & Merino, Elena & Priego, Alba María, 2016. "The role of institutional shareholders as owners and directors and the financial distress likelihood. Evidence from a concentrated ownership context," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 439-451.
    6. Bernile, Gennaro & Bhagwat, Vineet & Yonker, Scott, 2018. "Board diversity, firm risk, and corporate policies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(3), pages 588-612.
    7. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    8. Edward I. Altman, 1968. "The Prediction Of Corporate Bankruptcy: A Discriminant Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(1), pages 193-194, March.
    9. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2000. "Gender Differences in Pay," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 75-99, Fall.
    10. Beaver, Wh, 1966. "Financial Ratios As Predictors Of Failure - Reply," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4, pages 123-127.
    11. David Roodman, 2009. "How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(1), pages 86-136, March.
    12. Yujing Gong & Kung-Cheng Ho, 2018. "Does corporate social responsibility matter for corporate stability? Evidence from China," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(5), pages 2291-2319, September.
    13. Christian Lohmann & Thorsten Ohliger, 2019. "Using accounting‐based information on young firms to predict bankruptcy," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(8), pages 803-819, December.
    14. Adams, Renée B. & Ferreira, Daniel, 2009. "Women in the boardroom and their impact on governance and performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 291-309, November.
    15. Yasir Shahab & Collins G. Ntim & Ye Chengang & Farid Ullah & Samuel Fosu, 2018. "Environmental policy, environmental performance, and financial distress in China: Do top management team characteristics matter?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1635-1652, December.
    16. Yeterina Widi Nugrahanti & T. Sutrisno & Aulia Fuad Rahman & Endang Mardiati, 2020. "Do firm characteristics, political connection and corporate governance mechanism affect financial distress? (Evidence from Indonesia)," International Journal of Trade and Global Markets, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 13(2), pages 220-250.
    17. Marcin Kacperczyk & Savitar Sundaresan & Tianyu Wang & Wei Jiang, 2021. "Do Foreign Institutional Investors Improve Price Efficiency? [Does governance travel around the world? Evidence from institutional investors]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(3), pages 1317-1367.
    18. Huang, Wei & Zhu, Tao, 2015. "Foreign institutional investors and corporate governance in emerging markets: Evidence of a split-share structure reform in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 312-326.
    19. Yildiz, Yilmaz, 2021. "Foreign institutional investors, information asymmetries, and asset valuation in emerging markets," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    20. Switzer, Lorne N. & Tu, Qiao & Wang, Jun, 2018. "Corporate governance and default risk in financial firms over the post-financial crisis period: International evidence," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 196-210.
    21. Beaver, Wh, 1966. "Financial Ratios As Predictors Of Failure," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4, pages 71-111.
    22. World Bank Group, 2017. "China Economic Update, December 2017," World Bank Publications - Reports 29059, The World Bank Group.
    23. Zou, Liping & Tang, Tiantian & Li, Xiaoming, 2016. "The stock preferences of domestic versus foreign investors: Evidence from Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFIIs) in China," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 37, pages 12-28.
    24. Kang, Eugene & Ding, David K. & Charoenwong, Charlie, 2010. "Investor reaction to women directors," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(8), pages 888-894, August.
    25. Michael Jensen & Edward J. Zajac, 2004. "Corporate elites and corporate strategy: how demographic preferences and structural position shape the scope of the firm," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(6), pages 507-524, June.
    26. García-Meca, Emma & García-Sánchez, Isabel-María & Martínez-Ferrero, Jennifer, 2015. "Board diversity and its effects on bank performance: An international analysis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 202-214.
    27. Helen Kang & Mandy Cheng & Sidney J. Gray, 2007. "Corporate Governance and Board Composition: diversity and independence of Australian boards," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(2), pages 194-207, March.
    28. Pindado, Julio & Rodrigues, Luis & de la Torre, Chabela, 2008. "Estimating financial distress likelihood," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(9), pages 995-1003, September.
    29. Sultan Sikandar Mirza & Muhammad Ansar Majeed & Tanveer Ahsan, 2020. "Board gender diversity, competitive pressure and investment efficiency in Chinese private firms," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(3), pages 417-440, September.
    30. Aggarwal, Reena & Erel, Isil & Ferreira, Miguel & Matos, Pedro, 2011. "Does governance travel around the world? Evidence from institutional investors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 154-181, April.
    31. Jakob Haan & Razvan Vlahu, 2016. "Corporate Governance Of Banks: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 228-277, April.
    32. Kim, Haksoon & Lim, Chanwoo, 2010. "Diversity, outside directors and firm valuation: Korean evidence," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 284-291, March.
    33. Lee, Jieun & Chung, Kee H., 2018. "Foreign ownership and stock market liquidity," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 311-325.
    34. Sangeeta Mittal & Lavina, 2018. "Females’ Representation in the Boardroom and Their Impact on Financial Distress: An Evidence from Family Businesses in India," Indian Journal of Corporate Governance, , vol. 11(1), pages 35-44, June.
    35. Guanping Zhou, 2019. "Financial distress prevention in China: Does gender of board of directors matter?," Journal of Applied Finance & Banking, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 9(6), pages 1-8.
    36. Maria Camila De-La-Hoz & Carlos Pombo & Rodrigo Taborda, 2018. "Does board diversity affect institutional investor preferences? Evidence from Latin America," Documentos CEDE 15991, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    37. Ronald C. Anderson & David M. Reeb & Arun Upadhyay & Wanli Zhao, 2011. "The Economics of Director Heterogeneity," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 40(1), pages 5-38, March.
    38. Lee, Jieun & Ryu, Doojin, 2019. "How does FX liquidity affect the relationship between foreign ownership and stock liquidity?," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 101-119.
    39. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    40. Spence, Michael, 1974. "Competitive and optimal responses to signals: An analysis of efficiency and distribution," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 296-332, March.
    41. Edward I. Altman, 1968. "Financial Ratios, Discriminant Analysis And The Prediction Of Corporate Bankruptcy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(4), pages 589-609, September.
    42. Neupane, Suman & Neupane, Biwesh & Paudyal, Krishna & Thapa, Chandra, 2016. "Domestic and foreign institutional investors' investment in IPOs," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 197-210.
    43. David Roodman, 2006. "How to Do xtabond2," North American Stata Users' Group Meetings 2006 8, Stata Users Group.
    44. Ohlson, Ja, 1980. "Financial Ratios And The Probabilistic Prediction Of Bankruptcy," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 109-131.
    45. Chung, Kee H. & Zhang, Hao, 2011. "Corporate Governance and Institutional Ownership," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(1), pages 247-273, February.
    46. Loncan, Tiago, 2020. "Foreign institutional ownership and corporate cash holdings: Evidence from emerging economies," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    47. Shoaib Aslam & Mohamed H. Elmagrhi & Ramiz Ur Rehman & Collins G. Ntim, 2021. "Environmental management practices and financial performance using data envelopment analysis in Japan: The mediating role of environmental performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1655-1673, May.
    48. Fama, Eugene F & Jensen, Michael C, 1983. "Separation of Ownership and Control," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 301-325, June.
    49. Talavera, Oleksandr & Yin, Shuxing & Zhang, Mao, 2018. "Age diversity, directors' personal values, and bank performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 60-79.
    50. McGuinness, Paul B. & Vieito, João Paulo & Wang, Mingzhu, 2017. "The role of board gender and foreign ownership in the CSR performance of Chinese listed firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 75-99.
    51. Haroon ur Rashid Khan & Waqas Bin Khidmat & Sadia Awan, 2021. "Board diversity, financial flexibility and corporate innovation: evidence from China," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 11(2), pages 303-326, June.
    52. Ferreira, Miguel A. & Matos, Pedro, 2008. "The colors of investors' money: The role of institutional investors around the world," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 499-533, June.
    53. Melsa Ararat & Asli M. Colpan & Dirk Matten, 2018. "Business Groups and Corporate Responsibility for the Public Good," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(4), pages 911-929, December.
    54. Farag, Hisham & Mallin, Chris, 2017. "Board diversity and financial fragility: Evidence from European banks," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 98-112.
    55. Bravo-Urquiza, Francisco & Moreno-Ureba, Elena, 2021. "Does compliance with corporate governance codes help to mitigate financial distress?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    56. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    57. Sultan Sikandar Mirza & Muhammad Ansar Majeed & Tanveer Ahsan, 2020. "Board gender diversity, competitive pressure and investment efficiency in Chinese private firms," Post-Print hal-02956320, HAL.
    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. László Vancsura & Tibor Tatay & Tibor Bareith, 2023. "Evaluating the Effectiveness of Modern Forecasting Models in Predicting Commodity Futures Prices in Volatile Economic Times," Risks, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-16, January.

    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. Bravo-Urquiza, Francisco & Moreno-Ureba, Elena, 2021. "Does compliance with corporate governance codes help to mitigate financial distress?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    2. Shoukat Ali & Ramiz Ur Rehman & Muhammad Ishfaq Ahmad & Joe Ueng, 2021. "Does Board Diversity Attract Foreign Institutional Ownership? Insights from the Chinese Equity Market," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-15, October.
    3. Ding Ning & Irfan-Ullah & Muhammad Ansar Majeed & Aurang Zeb, 2022. "Board diversity and financial statement comparability: evidence from China," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 12(4), pages 743-801, December.
    4. Sumaira Ashraf & Elisabete G. S. Félix & Zélia Serrasqueiro, 2022. "Does board committee independence affect financial distress likelihood? A comparison of China with the UK," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 723-761, June.
    5. Asad, Muhammad & Akbar, Saeed & Li, Jing & Shah, Syed Zulfiqar Ali, 2023. "Board diversity and corporate propensity to R&D spending," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    6. Manzaneque, Montserrat & Priego, Alba María & Merino, Elena, 2016. "Corporate governance effect on financial distress likelihood: Evidence from Spain," Revista de Contabilidad - Spanish Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 111-121.
    7. Tanaka, Takanori, 2019. "Gender diversity on Japanese corporate boards," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 19-31.
    8. Abubakr Saeed & Syed Shafqat Mukarram & Yacine Belghitar, 2021. "Read between the lines: Board gender diversity, family ownership, and risk‐taking in Indian high‐tech firms," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 185-207, January.
    9. Almaskati, Nawaf & Bird, Ron & Yeung, Danny & Lu, Yue, 2021. "A horse race of models and estimation methods for predicting bankruptcy," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    10. Tolossa Fufa Guluma, 2021. "The impact of corporate governance measures on firm performance: the influences of managerial overconfidence," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-18, December.
    11. María Consuelo Pucheta-Martínez & Inmaculada Bel-Oms & Gustau Olcina-Sempere, 2018. "Female Institutional Directors on Boards and Firm Value," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(2), pages 343-363, October.
    12. Muhammad Haris & Hongxing Yao & Gulzara Tariq & Hafiz Mustansar Javaid & Qurat Ul Ain, 2019. "Corporate Governance, Political Connections, and Bank Performance," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-37, October.
    13. McGuinness, Gerard & Hogan, Teresa & Powell, Ronan, 2018. "European trade credit use and SME survival," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 81-103.
    14. Minnick, Kristina & Rosenthal, Leonard, 2014. "Stealth compensation: Do CEOs increase their pay by influencing dividend policy?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 435-454.
    15. Shaikh, Ibrahim A. & O'Brien, Jonathan Paul & Peters, Lois, 2018. "Inside directors and the underinvestment of financial slack towards R&D-intensity in high-technology firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 192-201.
    16. Li, Chunyu & Lou, Chenxin & Luo, Dan & Xing, Kai, 2021. "Chinese corporate distress prediction using LASSO: The role of earnings management," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    17. Ahsan Habib & Mabel D' Costa & Hedy Jiaying Huang & Md. Borhan Uddin Bhuiyan & Li Sun, 2020. "Determinants and consequences of financial distress: review of the empirical literature," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(S1), pages 1023-1075, April.
    18. Heidi Quah & Janto Haman & Dharmendra Naidu, 2021. "The effect of stock liquidity on investment efficiency under financing constraints and asymmetric information: Evidence from the United States," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(S1), pages 2109-2150, April.
    19. Efstathios Magerakis & Ahsan Habib, 2022. "Environmental uncertainty and corporate cash holdings: The moderating role of CEO ability," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 22(3), pages 402-432, September.
    20. Duc Hong Vo & Binh Ninh Vo Pham & Chi Minh Ho & Michael McAleer, 2019. "Corporate Financial Distress of Industry Level Listings in Vietnam," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-17, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Board diversity; Financial distress; Foreign institutional ownership;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G33 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Bankruptcy; Liquidation
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility

    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:spr:eurasi:v:12:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s40821-021-00191-z. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.