IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v89y2026ics1544612325024705.html

Cross-ownership and corporate leverage manipulation

Author

Listed:
  • Huang, Yisong
  • Wang, Yulong
  • Li, Piao
  • Li, Yaxin

Abstract

Cross-ownership plays a meaningful role in curbing corporate leverage manipulation, a practice that can conceal hidden debt and threaten capital market stability and national economic development. Using a sample of Chinese A-share nonfinancial listed firms, this study investigates the influence and mechanisms of cross-ownership on such manipulation. The results show that cross-ownership significantly reduces leverage manipulation, with a stronger inhibitory effect on “real debt in name only,” while its impact on off-balance-sheet liabilities remains insignificant. Cross-sectional evidence indicates that this restraining effect is more pronounced in firms operating under weaker regional financial regulation, lower corporate governance quality, and poorer accounting robustness. Mechanism tests further suggest that cross-ownership limits leverage manipulation by enhancing information disclosure quality, increasing analyst attention, and lowering the debt financing cost. In addition, economic consequence analysis reveals that curbing leverage manipulation through cross-ownership helps reduce business risk. These findings provide empirical support and policy guidance for the appropriate introduction of cross-ownership into Chinese enterprises.

Suggested Citation

  • Huang, Yisong & Wang, Yulong & Li, Piao & Li, Yaxin, 2026. "Cross-ownership and corporate leverage manipulation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:89:y:2026:i:c:s1544612325024705
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2025.109221
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612325024705
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2025.109221?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. José Azar & Martin C. Schmalz & Isabel Tecu, 2018. "Anticompetitive Effects of Common Ownership," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 73(4), pages 1513-1565, August.
    2. Wang, Chenxi & Deng, Xincai & Wang, Deli & Pan, Xingguang, 2024. "Financial regulation, financing constraints, and enterprise innovation performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PB).
    3. He, Jie (Jack) & Huang, Jiekun & Zhao, Shan, 2019. "Internalizing governance externalities: The role of institutional cross-ownership," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(2), pages 400-418.
    4. Khan, Mozaffar & Watts, Ross L., 2009. "Estimation and empirical properties of a firm-year measure of accounting conservatism," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2-3), pages 132-150, December.
    5. Santhosh Ramalingegowda & Steven Utke & Yong Yu, 2021. "Common Institutional Ownership and Earnings Management," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(1), pages 208-241, March.
    6. Chen, Yangyang & Li, Qingyuan & Ng, Jeffrey & Wang, Chong, 2021. "Corporate financing of investment opportunities in a world of institutional cross-ownership," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    7. Zhang, Xinqi & Deng, Yu & Wu, Xueping, 2024. "Exploring fiscal incentives, financial constraints, and firm innovation performance: A multidimensional correlation analysis and mechanism exploration," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA).
    8. Park, Jihwon & Sani, Jalal & Shroff, Nemit & White, Hal, 2019. "Disclosure incentives when competing firms have common ownership," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 387-415.
    9. Jiang, Jie & Seng, Julian & Huo, Wenjin & Shi, Jingwen, 2024. "Mitigating managerial short-sightedness in green technology innovation and corporate financial performance: The role of “National Team” shareholding," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA).
    10. Wu, Wei & Zhang, Shiyu & Fan, Yali & Shi, Yulu, 2024. "Financial flexibility, firm performance, and financial distress: A comparative study of China and the U.S. during pandemics," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PB).
    11. Li, Qingyuan & Ni, Xiaoran & Yeung, P. Eric & Yin, David, 2025. "The information advantage of industry common owners and its spillover effect on stock price crash risk," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    12. Kang, Jun-Koo & Luo, Juan & Na, Hyun Seung, 2018. "Are institutional investors with multiple blockholdings effective monitors?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(3), pages 576-602.
    13. Ping Lin & Boqiang Lin & Fu Lei, 2020. "Influence of CEO Characteristics on Accounting Information Disclosure Quality—Based on the Mediating Effect of Capital Structure," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(8), pages 1781-1803, June.
    14. Michael J. Jung, 2013. "Investor overlap and diffusion of disclosure practices," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 167-206, March.
    15. Ángel L. López & Xavier Vives, 2019. "Overlapping Ownership, R&D Spillovers, and Antitrust Policy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(5), pages 2394-2437.
    16. Jie (Jack) He & Jiekun Huang, 2017. "Product Market Competition in a World of Cross-Ownership: Evidence from Institutional Blockholdings," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(8), pages 2674-2718.
    17. Cheng, Xin & (Helen) Wang, He & Wang, Xianjue, 2022. "Common institutional ownership and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    18. Alves, Carlos Francisco & Meneses, Lilian Lima, 2024. "ESG scores and debt costs: Exploring indebtedness, agency costs, and financial system impact," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    19. Kose John & Lubomir Litov & Bernard Yeung, 2008. "Corporate Governance and Risk‐Taking," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(4), pages 1679-1728, August.
    20. Brooks, Chris & Chen, Zhong & Zeng, Yeqin, 2018. "Institutional cross-ownership and corporate strategy: The case of mergers and acquisitions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 187-216.
    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. Anting Li & Jianqiong Wang & Yaru Yang, 2026. "Dose common institutional ownership constrain tunneling?," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 1193-1228, April.
    2. Liu, Xutang & Boubaker, Sabri & Liao, Jing & Yao, Shouyu, 2025. "The rise of common state ownership and corporate environmental performance," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 57(5).
    3. Zhou, Wei & Liu, Baohua & Chen, Tao & Chen, Yining, 2025. "Institutional investors' cross-ownership and internal control quality," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    4. Dai, Jingwen & Xu, Rong & Zhu, Tianqi & Lu, Chao, 2024. "Common institutional ownership and opportunistic insider selling: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    5. Mou, Shaobo & Yi, Sijia & Zhang, Qiufeng & Liu, Danping, 2025. "Common institutional ownership and executive pay-performance sensitivity: Mediating role of information transparency and fund occupation," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    6. Hamza Nizar & Taher Hamza & Faten Lakhal, 2024. "How does institutional cross‐ownership affect firm productivity? The importance of the corporate social responsibility channel," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 1988-2010, April.
    7. Liu, Wenhua & Sun, Bohong & Zhao, Lili & Zhu, Pingheng, 2025. "Does common ownership affect stock price synchronicity?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(PB).
    8. Qian Ding & Jinyu Chen & Wu Chen, 2026. "Can Common Institutional Ownership Govern CSR Decoupling? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 204(2), pages 309-334, March.
    9. Ning, Zihao & Xu, Zhibo & Zheng, Pengju, 2024. "The impact of common institutional ownership on financialization in non-financial enterprise: Exacerbation or inhibition?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 69(PB).
    10. Fangfang Zhou & Lianghua Chen & Libin Zhao & Xiangfei Fu, 2025. "Governance or collusion? The M&A effects of common institutional ownership," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.
    11. Wang, Xiaoliang & Zhao, Wei & Liu, Ruizhi, 2025. "Common institutional investors and the tone of key audit matters," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    12. Yang, Jinkun & Wang, Hai & Hou, Congcong & Fu, Shaozheng, 2025. "Governance or collusion? Shareholders' network and corporate ESG greenwashing," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    13. Zhu, Siyuan & Lu, Rong & Xu, Tianli & Wu, Wenbin & Chen, Yang, 2024. "Can common institutional owners inhibit bad mergers and acquisitions? Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(PA), pages 246-266.
    14. Zhang, Han & Li, Minghui & Yang, Yujie, 2024. "Does common institutional ownership constrain related party transactions? Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PB), pages 1015-1042.
    15. Xue, Haiyan & Zhang, Haijuan & Zhang, Xindong & Ding, Shusheng, 2026. "The role of state-owned capital in the innovation of private-owned enterprises: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    16. Xiaohui Wu & Yumin Li & Chong Feng, 2023. "Green innovation peer effects in common institutional ownership networks," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(2), pages 641-660, March.
    17. Xu, Tianli & Xu, Longbing & Zhu, Siyuan, 2023. "Common ownership and executive pay-for-performance sensitivity: Evidence from China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    18. Chen, Zhen & Tang, Xudong & Wang, Yanying, 2025. "Punish one, teach a hundred: The impact of punishments on ex-post misconduct of unpunished firms," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 104(PB).
    19. Yao, Rongrong & Xiao, Min, 2025. "Common ownership and corporate violations: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    20. Ziwei Wang & Chunfeng Wang & Zhenming Fang, 2024. "Learning from Failures of Co-owned Firms: Common Ownership and Information Disclosure Fraud," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 195(1), pages 95-119, November.

    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:89:y:2026:i:c:s1544612325024705. 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.