IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolet/v255y2025ics0165176525003969.html

The impact of organizational capital on corporate debt maturity structure choices

Author

Listed:
  • Charkhchi, Iman
  • Toscano, Francesca
  • Tran, Viet

Abstract

We examine the relationship between organizational capital and corporate debt maturity choices using a sample of U.S. public firms from 1990 to 2017. Our findings show that firms with higher organizational capital prefer shorter debt maturities. This positive effect is consistent over time and remains robust even after accounting for firm-specific, macroeconomic factors, and alternative definitions of our variable of interest. Cross-sectional analyses show that the effect of organizational capital is magnified in fast-growing firms but moderated in firms experiencing financial distress.

Suggested Citation

  • Charkhchi, Iman & Toscano, Francesca & Tran, Viet, 2025. "The impact of organizational capital on corporate debt maturity structure choices," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:255:y:2025:i:c:s0165176525003969
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112559
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176525003969
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112559?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

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Antonio Falato & Dalida Kadyrzhanova & Jae Sim & Roberto Steri, 2022. "Rising Intangible Capital, Shrinking Debt Capacity, and the U.S. Corporate Savings Glut," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(5), pages 2799-2852, October.
    2. Allen N. Berger & Marco A. Espinosa‐Vega & W. Scott Frame & Nathan H. Miller, 2005. "Debt Maturity, Risk, and Asymmetric Information," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(6), pages 2895-2923, December.
    3. Tronconi, Claudia & Vittucci Marzetti, Giuseppe, 2011. "Organization capital and firm performance. Empirical evidence for European firms," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 112(2), pages 141-143, August.
    4. Marwick, Alex & Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Luo, Tianpei, 2020. "Organization capital and corporate cash holdings," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    5. Hao, Yun & Wu, Wenzhao, 2024. "Rigid debt maturity structure and enterprise innovation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    6. Datta, Sudip & Doan, Trang & Iskandar-Datta, Mai, 2019. "Policy uncertainty and the maturity structure of corporate debt," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    7. 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.
    8. Boubaker, Sabri & Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Habib, Ahsan, 2022. "Organization capital, tournament incentives and firm performance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PB).
    9. Li, Michelle & Roberts, Helen, 2023. "Zero leverage and dividend policy," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PB).
    10. Datta, Sudip & Doan, Trang & Toscano, Francesca, 2021. "Top executive gender, board gender diversity, and financing decisions: Evidence from debt structure choice," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    11. Jarrad Harford & Sandy Klasa & William F. Maxwell, 2014. "Refinancing Risk and Cash Holdings," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(3), pages 975-1012, June.
    12. Panta, Humnath & Panta, Ayush, 2023. "Organizational capital and readability of financial reports," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PA).
    13. 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.
    14. repec:dgr:rugsom:05e08 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Sudip Datta & Mai Iskandar‐Datta & Kartik Raman, 2005. "Managerial Stock Ownership and the Maturity Structure of Corporate Debt," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(5), pages 2333-2350, October.
    16. Gerard Hoberg & Gordon Phillips, 2016. "Text-Based Network Industries and Endogenous Product Differentiation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(5), pages 1423-1465.
    17. Belo, Frederico & Gala, Vito D. & Salomao, Juliana & Vitorino, Maria Ana, 2022. "Decomposing firm value," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(2), pages 619-639.
    18. Matthew T. Billett & Tao‐Hsien Dolly King & David C. Mauer, 2007. "Growth Opportunities and the Choice of Leverage, Debt Maturity, and Covenants," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(2), pages 697-730, April.
    19. Barclay, Michael J & Smith, Clifford W, Jr, 1995. "The Maturity Structure of Corporate Debt," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(2), pages 609-631, June.
    20. Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Uddin, Mohammad Riaz, 2022. "Do intangibles matter for corporate policies? Evidence from organization capital and corporate payout choices," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    21. Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Lobo, Gerald J. & Qiu, Buhui, 2021. "Organizational capital, corporate tax avoidance, and firm value," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    22. Myers, Stewart C., 1977. "Determinants of corporate borrowing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 147-175, November.
    23. Danielova, Anna & Francis, Bill B. & Teng, Haimeng & Wu, Qiang, 2023. "The Effect of Organization Capital on the Cost of Bank Loans," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 58(6), pages 2579-2616, September.
    24. Shane A. Johnson, 2003. "Debt Maturity and the Effects of Growth Opportunities and Liquidity Risk on Leverage," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 16(1), pages 209-236.
    25. Peter Demerjian & Baruch Lev & Sarah McVay, 2012. "Quantifying Managerial Ability: A New Measure and Validity Tests," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(7), pages 1229-1248, July.
    26. Najah Attig & Sadok El Ghoul, 2018. "Organization Capital and the Cost of Equity Financing in Medium‐Sized Manufacturing Firms," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(3), pages 1616-1644, September.
    27. Gao, Mingze & Leung, Henry & Qiu, Buhui, 2021. "Organization capital and executive performance incentives," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    28. Cui, Huijie & Dai, Lixuan & Zhang, Yanan, 2021. "Organization Capital and Corporate Innovation: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    29. Scott R. Baker & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis, 2016. "Measuring Economic Policy Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1593-1636.
    30. Lim, Steve C. & Macias, Antonio J. & Moeller, Thomas, 2020. "Intangible assets and capital structure," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    31. David C. Mauer & Natalia Villatoro & Yilei Zhang, 2022. "Brand equity and corporate debt structure," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(7-8), pages 1077-1112, July.
    32. 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.
    33. Datta, Sudip & Doan, Trang & Toscano, Francesca, 2024. "Does firm culture influence corporate financing decisions? Evidence from debt maturity choice," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    34. Chan, Konan & Guo, Re-Jin J. & Wang, Yanzhi A. & Yang, Hsiao-Lin, 2022. "Organization capital and analyst coverage," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 81-105.
    35. Rampini, Adriano A. & Viswanathan, S., 2013. "Collateral and capital structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(2), pages 466-492.
    36. Panta, Humnath & Narayanasamy, Arun & Panta, Ayush, 2023. "Organizational capital and credit ratings," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    37. Li, Kai & Qiu, Buhui & Shen, Rui, 2018. "Organization Capital and Mergers and Acquisitions," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(4), pages 1871-1909, August.
    38. Lensink, Robert & Tra, Pham Thi Thu, 2005. "Collateral and Debt Maturity Choice. A Signaling Model," Research Report 05E08, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    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. Li, Tongxia & Lu, Chun & Routledge, James, 2023. "Brand capital on debt maturity structure," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3).
    2. Khoo, Joye & Cheung, Adrian (Wai Kong), 2025. "Reprint of: The hidden cost of organisation capital: Evidence from trade credit," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 57(1).
    3. Atawnah, Nader & Zaman, Rashid & Liu, Jia & Atawna, Thaer & Maghyereh, Aktham, 2023. "Does foreign competition affect corporate debt maturity structure? Evidence from import penetration," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    4. Zheng, Chen & Sun, Zhiyue, 2025. "Organisation capital: A key asset for mitigating firm-level climate change exposure," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3).
    5. Provaty, Sagira Sultana & Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Luo, Le, 2024. "Organization capital and GHG emissions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    6. Datta, Sudip & Doan, Trang & Toscano, Francesca, 2024. "Does firm culture influence corporate financing decisions? Evidence from debt maturity choice," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    7. Panta, Humnath & Narayanasamy, Arun & Panta, Ayush, 2023. "Organizational capital and credit ratings," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    8. Chen, Leqin & Lei, Adrian C.H. & Song, Chen, 2024. "Organization capital and stock price crash risk," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    9. Panta, Humnath & Panta, Ayush, 2023. "Organizational capital and readability of financial reports," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PA).
    10. Wu, Julia Yonghua & Opare, Solomon & Bhuiyan, Md. Borhan Uddin & Habib, Ahsan, 2022. "Determinants and consequences of debt maturity structure: A systematic review of the international literature," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    11. Chasiotis, Ioannis & Loukopoulos, Georgios & Toudas, Kanellos, 2024. "Organization capital, dividends and firm value: International evidence," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    12. Khoo, Joye & Cheung, Adrian (Wai Kong), 2024. "Firms' organisation capital: Do peers matter?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA).
    13. Marwick, Alex & Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Luo, Tianpei, 2020. "Organization capital and corporate cash holdings," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    14. Shang, Chenguang, 2021. "Dare to play with fire? Managerial ability and the use of short-term debt," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    15. Yingying Qin & Yishan Zhang & Yu‐en Lin & Jingbo Hu, 2025. "Organization Capital and Corporate Financialization: Evidence From China," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 46(3), pages 1701-1720, April.
    16. Liu, Chengcheng & Zhang, Mingrui & Lin, Yu-En & Li, Qing, 2026. "Brand capital development, climate risk, and corporate investment efficiency," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    17. Tongxia Li & Chun Lu & Lei Xu, 2024. "The impact of organisation capital on inventory efficiency," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 64(4), pages 3751-3779, December.
    18. Pan, Wei-Fong & Wang, Xinjie & Yang, Shanxiang, 2019. "Debt maturity, leverage, and political uncertainty," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    19. Uddin, Mohammad Riaz & Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Abadi, Nour, 2022. "Do intangible assets provide corporate resilience? New evidence from infectious disease pandemics," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    20. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Wang, Chih-Wei & Purnama, Muhammad Yusuf Indra & Sharma, Susan Sunila, 2024. "Digitalization and firms' debt maturity: Do financial constraints and uncertainty matter?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

    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:eee:ecolet:v:255:y:2025:i:c:s0165176525003969. 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/ecolet .

    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.