IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v85y2025ipds1544612325014114.html

Research on the impact of directors' liability insurance on corporate resilience

Author

Listed:
  • Zhu, Ruikun
  • Lin, Yu
  • Zhang, Xiaofeng

Abstract

This paper uses the data of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2013 to 2023 to examine the impact of directors' liability insurance on corporate resilience. The study finds that, counter-intuitively, when enterprises purchase directors' liability insurance, it significantly reduces their corporate resilience. This is because the purchase of directors' liability insurance significantly increases the aggressiveness of corporate investment and reduces the level of internal management. Moreover, this impact shows significant heterogeneity in firms with different ownership concentration, market competition and profit margins.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhu, Ruikun & Lin, Yu & Zhang, Xiaofeng, 2025. "Research on the impact of directors' liability insurance on corporate resilience," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 85(PD).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:85:y:2025:i:pd:s1544612325014114
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2025.108156
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612325014114
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2025.108156?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. Qi, Ruijuan & Ma, Guowei & Liu, Chang & Zhang, Qiwen & Wang, Qianyi, 2024. "Enterprise digital transformation and supply chain resilience," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    2. Peng, Nianjiao & Wen, Manhong & Tian, Xiujuan & Wu, Xiaxue, 2024. "The impact of digital finance on firm's inefficient investment: Evidence from Chinese A-share listed companies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 69(PA).
    3. Aguir, Iness & Aguir, Wael, 2020. "Director and officer liability protection and firm value: Unintended consequences," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 32(C).
    4. Jin, Shaorong & Xiong, Ruoyu & Peng, Huan & Tang, Shiyu, 2025. "ESG performance and private enterprise resilience: Evidence from Chinese financial markets," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    5. Chia-Chung Chan & Yung-Ho Chang & Chia-wei Chen & Yuwei Wang, 2019. "Directors’ liability insurance and investment-cash flow sensitivity," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 43(1), pages 27-43, January.
    6. Weng, Tzu-Ching & Chen, Guang-Zheng & Chi, Hsin-Yi, 2017. "Effects of directors and officers liability insurance on accounting restatements," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 437-452.
    7. Chen, Li-Yueh & Chen, Yu-Fen & Yang, Sheng-Yung, 2017. "Managerial incentives and R&D investments: The moderating effect of the directors’ and officers’ liability insurance," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 210-222.
    8. Kedi Wang & Chen Wu, 2023. "Directors’ and officers’ liability insurance and corporate misconduct: Evidence from China," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(20), pages 2349-2365, April.
    9. Li, Tianshi & Yang, Tina & Zhu, Jigao, 2022. "Directors’ and officers’ liability insurance: Evidence from independent directors’ voting," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    10. Boubakri, Narjess & Bouslimi, Lobna, 2016. "Directors’ and officers’ liability insurance and analyst forecast properties," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 22-32.
    11. Shi, Chunling & Sun, Yaodong & Lyu, Jia, 2023. "D&O insurance, technology independent directors, and R&D investment," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    12. Cheng Li & Yewen Wang, 2024. "Digital transformation and enterprise resilience: Enabling or burdening?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(7), pages 1-23, July.
    13. Xiaolong Wang & Di Wang & Yanmin Zhao, 2024. "Managerial Time Orientation, Corporate Resource Allocation, and Firm Resilience," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(4), pages 19989-20018, December.
    14. Li-Su Huang, 2022. "Directors and officers liability insurance and default risk," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 47(2), pages 375-408, April.
    15. Park, Min, 2018. "What drives corporate insurance demand? Evidence from directors' and officers' liability insurance in Korea," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 235-257.
    16. Wang, Jialong & Zhang, Jian & Huang, Haoyue & Zhang, Fan, 2020. "Directors’ and officers’ liability insurance and firm innovation," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 414-426.
    17. Li, Yujiao & Han, Yunge, 2025. "The unexpected effect of digital inclusive finance on," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    18. Lai, Yi-Hsun & Tai, Vivian W., 2019. "Managerial overconfidence and directors' and officers' liability insurance," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    19. Zhang, Xuejiao & Huang, Shoufeng & Li, Wanfu & Wang, Yu, 2023. "Directors' and officers' liability insurance, environmental regulation and firms' envi ronmental responsibility," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    20. Yuan, Rongli & Sun, Jian & Cao, Feng, 2016. "Directors' and officers' liability insurance and stock price crash risk," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 173-192.
    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. Min-der Hsieh & Lon-Fon Shieh & Dun-Yao Ke & Thi Bao Ngoc Nguyen, 2026. "Directors’ and officers’ liability insurance and the shareholder value of strategic alliance announcement in Taiwan," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 30(1), pages 191-224, March.
    2. Ting Gao & Xiaolong Ma, 2025. "Directors’ and officers’ liability insurance and corporate R&D capitalisation: evidence from China," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 50(4), pages 792-824, October.
    3. Liao, Tsai-Ling & Chuang, Hwei-Lin & Wang, Jo-Yu, 2022. "Directors' and officers’ liability insurance and the pricing of seasoned equity offerings," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 12-26.
    4. Li, Houjian & Cheng, Quanfeixue & Su, Mengying & Zhang, Kuan, 2025. "Empowering ESG: The pivotal influence of directors' and officers' liability insurance on corporate sustainability," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    5. Han, Yuling & Boubaker, Sabri & Li, Wanfu & Wang, Yu, 2024. "How does directors' and officers' liability insurance affect green innovation? Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    6. Xia, Changyuan & Yang, Junjie & Yang, Zeng & Chan, Kam C., 2023. "Do directors with foreign experience increase the corporate demand for directors' and officers' liability insurance? Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    7. Ching-Ching Chen & Kuo-Hao Lin & Tsai-Hsuan Tsai & Hsiu-Jung Tsai, 2024. "Impact of D&O Insurance on Shareholder Wealth During Financial Restatement Announcements: An Empirical Study in Taiwan," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 14(6), pages 1-2.
    8. Yang, Runze & Wu, Junwei & Yang, Cunyi & Albitar, Khaldoon, 2024. "Far-sighted through mitigating risk: Directors and officers liability insurance and corporate ESG performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PB).
    9. Su, Xuan-Qi, 2023. "Directors' and Officers' liability insurance and cross section of expected stock returns: A mispricing explanation," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    10. Sophie Wang, Qing & Lai, Shaojie & Pi, Shuwen & Anderson, Hamish, 2022. "Does directors' and officers' liability insurance induce empire building? Evidence from corporate labor investment," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    11. Huang, Xin & Wu, Ji (George) & Bai, Hengyu & Yu, Hanze & Li, Jing, 2025. "Care or fear? The link between D&O liability insurance and CSR engagement: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    12. Wang, Man & Sun, Lujia, 2023. "Does Directors’ and Officers’ Liability Insurance improve corporate governance of Chinese listed firms? The moderating role of insider ownership," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    13. Gu, Qiankun & Li, Conggang & Li, Yanyin & Xu, Rong & Xu, Yize, 2025. "Does non-punitive regulation increase the demand for D&O insurance?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    14. Kong, Xiaoran & Xu, Siping & Liu, Ming-Yu & Ho, Kung-Cheng, 2023. "Confucianism and D&O insurance demand of Chinese listed companies," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    15. Li, Conggang & Liu, Yijun & Xu, Rong & Xu, Xingmei, 2025. "Insuring legitimacy: The role of uncertainty perceptions in shaping corporate insurance demand," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    16. Meng-Chi Chueh & Shen-Ho Chang, 2022. "Effects of Directors and Officers Insurance on Earnings Management Strategies: Moderating Role of Restatement Announcements," International Journal of Business and Economic Sciences Applied Research (IJBESAR), Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH), Kavala Campus, Greece, vol. 15(1), pages 71-93, July.
    17. Zhang, Xuejiao & Huang, Shoufeng & Li, Wanfu & Wang, Yu, 2023. "Directors' and officers' liability insurance, environmental regulation and firms' envi ronmental responsibility," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    18. Meng-Ju Wu & Chung-Hsien Hung & Yuan Chang, 2026. "Directors’ and Officers’ Liability Insurance, Directors’ and Managerial Overconfidence, and ESG Performance," Journal of Applied Finance & Banking, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 16(1), pages 1-5.
    19. Huobao Xie & Can Lin, 2024. "Economic policy uncertainty and directors and officers liability insurance: a perspective on capital market pressures," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 49(3), pages 605-635, July.
    20. Hui Xia & Shixian Ling & Zhangxin (Frank) Liu & Sirimon Treepongkaruna, 2024. "Corporate governance and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from directors' and officers' liability insurance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(4), pages 3006-3030, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:finlet:v:85:y:2025:i:pd:s1544612325014114. 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.