IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v168y2023ics0148296323004770.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Returnee directors and cost of debt

Author

Listed:
  • Khan, Muhammad
  • Tawiah, Vincent
  • Usman, Muhammad
  • Wang, Fangjun
  • Gyapong, Ernest

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between returnee directors and cost of debt. We use robust econometric modelling on large unique sample data of 15,832 firm-year observations from 2007 to 2018. We find a negative and significant association between returnee directors and the cost of debt, suggesting that these directors give firms access to cheaper debt capital. The negative relationship is more pronounced in private-owned firms and firms with more than one returnee director. In further analyses, we demonstrate that returnee directors' favourable influence on the cost of debt is through improvement in internal monitoring mechanisms evident in quality financial reporting. Our findings provide evidence of how returnee directors send positive signals to the debt market through effective monitoring and transmission of superior corporate governance practices to emerging markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Khan, Muhammad & Tawiah, Vincent & Usman, Muhammad & Wang, Fangjun & Gyapong, Ernest, 2023. "Returnee directors and cost of debt," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:168:y:2023:i:c:s0148296323004770
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114118
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296323004770
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114118?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. Allen, Franklin & Qian, Jun & Qian, Meijun, 2005. "Law, finance, and economic growth in China," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 57-116, July.
    2. 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.
    3. Le, Ha Thi Thu & Vo, Xuan Vinh & Vo, Thi Thuc, 2021. "Accruals quality and the cost of debt: Evidence from Vietnam," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    4. Shailer, Greg & Wang, Kun, 2015. "Government ownership and the cost of debt for Chinese listed corporations," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 1-17.
    5. Merton, Robert C, 1987. "A Simple Model of Capital Market Equilibrium with Incomplete Information," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 42(3), pages 483-510, July.
    6. Gul, Ferdinand A. & Srinidhi, Bin & Ng, Anthony C., 2011. "Does board gender diversity improve the informativeness of stock prices?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 314-338, April.
    7. 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.
    8. He, Wen & Luo, Jin-hui, 2018. "Agency problems in firms with an even number of directors: Evidence from China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 139-150.
    9. Jeong†Bon Kim & Dan A. Simunic & Michael T. Stein & CHEONG H. YI, 2011. "Voluntary Audits and the Cost of Debt Capital for Privately Held Firms: Korean Evidence," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 585-615, June.
    10. Pittman, Jeffrey A. & Fortin, Steve, 2004. "Auditor choice and the cost of debt capital for newly public firms," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 113-136, February.
    11. 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).
    12. Gul, Ferdinand A. & Kim, Jeong-Bon & Qiu, Annie A., 2010. "Ownership concentration, foreign shareholding, audit quality, and stock price synchronicity: Evidence from China," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(3), pages 425-442, March.
    13. Klein, April, 2002. "Audit committee, board of director characteristics, and earnings management," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 375-400, August.
    14. Du, Xingqiang & Jian, Wei & Lai, Shaojuan, 2017. "Do Foreign Directors Mitigate Earnings Management? Evidence From China," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 142-177.
    15. Kong, Dongmin & Wang, Li & Wang, Maobin, 2017. "Effects of anti-corruption on firm performance: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 190-195.
    16. DeFond, Mark & Zhang, Jieying, 2014. "A review of archival auditing research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 275-326.
    17. Lugo, Stefano, 2019. "Insider ownership and the cost of debt capital: Evidence from bank loans," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 357-368.
    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. Fleitas-Castillo, Gema C. & Peña-Martel, Devora & Pérez-Alemán, Jerónimo & Santana Martín, Domingo J., 2025. "Women on boards and the cost of debt: The role of family ties," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    2. Fiorillo, Paolo & Meles, Antonio & Ricciardi, Antonio & Verdoliva, Vincenzo, 2025. "ESG performance and the cost of debt. Evidence from the corporate bond market," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    3. Yusheng Kong & Andrew Agyemang & Noha Alessa & Maxwell Kongkuah, 2023. "The Moderating Role of Technological Innovation on Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) Performance and Firm Value: Evidence from Developing and Least-Developed Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-16, September.
    4. Wang, Yidi & Gu, Hongmei, 2024. "Impacts of trust on the cost of debt financing: The perspectives of in-group trust and out-group trust," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(PA).
    5. Farooq, Muhammad Umar & Gyapong, Ernest & Gull, Ammar Ali & Usman, Muhammad & Javed, Muzhar & Tawiah, Vincent, 2025. "Do women directors influence CEO performance-induced turnover in China?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).

    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. McGuinness, Paul B., 2021. "Board member age, stock seasoning and the evolution of capital structure in Chinese firms," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(3).
    2. Masoud Azizkhani & Sarowar Hossain & Mai Nguyen, 2023. "Effects of audit committee chair characteristics on auditor choice, audit fee and audit quality," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(3), pages 3675-3707, September.
    3. Poletti-Hughes, Jannine & Briano-Turrent, Guadalupe C., 2019. "Gender diversity on the board of directors and corporate risk: A behavioural agency theory perspective," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 80-90.
    4. Rakesh Pandey & Pallab Kumar Biswas & Muhammad Jahangir Ali & Mansi Mansi, 2020. "Female directors on the board and cost of debt: evidence from Australia," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(4), pages 4031-4060, December.
    5. Farid Ullah & Ping Jiang & Yasir Shahab & Chenyang Zheng, 2021. "Board of directors' foreign experience and stock price informativeness," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 5160-5182, October.
    6. Harakeh, Mostafa & El-Gammal, Walid & Matar, Ghida, 2019. "Female directors, earnings management, and CEO incentive compensation: UK evidence," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 153-170.
    7. Dongliang Yuan & Duo Shang & Xinmei Wu, 2024. "Board diversity and stock price crash risk: exacerbate or mitigate," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-11, December.
    8. El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Pittman, Jeffrey, 2016. "Cross-country evidence on the importance of Big Four auditors to equity pricing: The mediating role of legal institutions," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 60-81.
    9. McGuinness, Paul B. & Vieito, João Paulo & Wang, Mingzhu, 2024. "The impact of CSR-engagement, board gender, and stock price synchronicity on female analyst stock coverage decisions," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    10. Ni Qin & Dongmin Kong & Ling Zhu & Mengxu Xiong, 2025. "Board Gender Diversity and Within-Firm Wage Inequity: Evidence from the Relaxation of China’s One-Child Policy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 199(1), pages 183-205, June.
    11. Liu, Chelsea, 2021. "CEO gender and employee relations: Evidence from labor lawsuits," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    12. Xingqiang Du, 2019. "Does CEO-Auditor Dialect Sharing Impair Pre-IPO Audit Quality? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(3), pages 699-735, May.
    13. DeFond, Mark & Zhang, Jieying, 2014. "A review of archival auditing research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 275-326.
    14. Jiao Ji & Oleksandr Talavera & Shuxing Yin, 2018. "The Hidden Information Content: Evidence from the Tone of Independent Director Reports," Working Papers 2018-28, Swansea University, School of Management.
    15. Ararat, Melsa & Yurtoglu, B. Burcin, 2021. "Female directors, board committees, and firm performance: Time-series evidence from Turkey," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    16. Bhuiyan, Md. Borhan Uddin & Rahman, Asheq & Sultana, Nigar, 2020. "Female tainted directors, financial reporting quality and audit fees," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2).
    17. Nilabhra Bhattacharya & Theodore E. Christensen & Qunfeng Liao & Bo Ouyang, 2022. "Can short sellers constrain aggressive non-GAAP reporting?," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 391-440, June.
    18. Leonardo Gambacorta & Alessio Reghezza & Martina Spaggiari & Livia Pancotto, 2022. "Gender diversity in bank boardrooms and green lending: evidence from euro area credit register data," BIS Working Papers 1044, Bank for International Settlements.
    19. Ammar Ali Gull & Ammar Abid & Rashid Latief & Muhammad Usman, 2021. "Women on board and auditors’ assessment of the risk of material misstatement," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 11(4), pages 679-708, December.
    20. Guanmin Liao & Mark (Shuai) Ma & Xiaoyun Yu, 2022. "Transporting transparency: Director foreign experience and corporate information environment," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(7), pages 1343-1369, September.

    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:jbrese:v:168:y:2023:i:c:s0148296323004770. 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/jbusres .

    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.