IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/reveco/v58y2018icp65-77.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do firms have target capital structures? Evidence from institutional monitoring

Author

Listed:
  • Chung, Chune Young
  • Liu, Chang
  • Wang, Kainan

Abstract

This study lends support to the existence of target capital structures through the interplay between institutional monitoring and corporate debt policies. Specifically, using institutional ownership to proxy for institutional monitoring, we find that aggregate institutional ownership is negatively associated with deviations from hypothesized leverage targets and the negative relationship is driven by long-term institutions that are better positioned to influence corporate debt policies due to the nature of such efforts. We also find that our results are more evident in firms with low information asymmetry, which provide greater monitoring benefits due to perceived lower monitoring costs. These findings are consistent with monitoring institutions actively seeking to maintain a certain debt level and thus suggest its existence. We show that reductions in leverage deviation lead to better future firm performance, indicating institutional monitoring is effective in creating shareholder value. Our results are robust after controlling for measures of internal governance and invariant to alternative proxies for institutional monitoring.

Suggested Citation

  • Chung, Chune Young & Liu, Chang & Wang, Kainan, 2018. "Do firms have target capital structures? Evidence from institutional monitoring," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 65-77.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:reveco:v:58:y:2018:i:c:p:65-77
    DOI: 10.1016/j.iref.2018.02.024
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1059056017301843
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.iref.2018.02.024?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. Hovakimian, Armen & Opler, Tim & Titman, Sheridan, 2001. "The Debt-Equity Choice," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 36(1), pages 1-24, March.
    2. Fama, Eugene F & Jensen, Michael C, 1983. "Agency Problems and Residual Claims," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 327-349, June.
    3. Xuemin (Sterling) Yan & Zhe Zhang, 2009. "Institutional Investors and Equity Returns: Are Short-term Institutions Better Informed?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(2), pages 893-924, February.
    4. Murray Z. Frank & Vidhan K. Goyal, 2009. "Capital Structure Decisions: Which Factors Are Reliably Important?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 38(1), pages 1-37, March.
    5. Liu, Bo & Liu, Yang & Peng, Juan & Yang, Jinqiang, 2017. "Optimal capital structure and credit spread under incomplete information," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 596-611.
    6. Eugene F. Fama, 2002. "Testing Trade-Off and Pecking Order Predictions About Dividends and Debt," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 15(1), pages 1-33, March.
    7. 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.
    8. Gaspar, Jose-Miguel & Massa, Massimo & Matos, Pedro, 2005. "Shareholder investment horizons and the market for corporate control," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 135-165, April.
    9. Miguel A. Ferreira & Massimo Massa & Pedro Matos, 2010. "Shareholders at the Gate? Institutional Investors and Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(2), pages 601-644, February.
    10. Morck, Randall & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W., 1988. "Management ownership and market valuation," Scholarly Articles 29407535, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    11. Flannery, Mark J. & Rangan, Kasturi P., 2006. "Partial adjustment toward target capital structures," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(3), pages 469-506, March.
    12. Linck, James S. & Netter, Jeffry M. & Yang, Tina, 2008. "The determinants of board structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 308-328, February.
    13. Stulz, ReneM., 1990. "Managerial discretion and optimal financing policies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 3-27, July.
    14. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    15. 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.
    16. Tai, Vivian W. & Lai, Yi-Hsun & Lin, Lin, 2014. "Local institutional shareholders and corporate hedging policies," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 287-312.
    17. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1995. "What Do We Know about Capital Structure? Some Evidence from International Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(5), pages 1421-1460, December.
    18. McConnell, John J. & Servaes, Henri, 1990. "Additional evidence on equity ownership and corporate value," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 595-612, October.
    19. Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R., 2001. "The theory and practice of corporate finance: evidence from the field," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(2-3), pages 187-243, May.
    20. Parrino, Robert & Sias, Richard W. & Starks, Laura T., 2003. "Voting with their feet: institutional ownership changes around forced CEO turnover," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 3-46, April.
    21. Guercio, Diane Del & Hawkins, Jennifer, 1999. "The motivation and impact of pension fund activism," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 293-340, June.
    22. Chang Liu & Donna L. Paul, 2015. "A New Perspective On Director Busyness," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 38(2), pages 193-218, June.
    23. Myers, Stewart C., 1977. "Determinants of corporate borrowing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 147-175, November.
    24. Chan, Chia-Chung & Lin, Bing-Huei & Chang, Yung-Ho & Liao, Wei-Chen, 2013. "Does bank relationship matter for corporate risk-taking? Evidence from listed firms in Taiwan," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 323-338.
    25. repec:bla:jfinan:v:43:y:1988:i:1:p:1-19 is not listed on IDEAS
    26. Piotroski, JD, 2000. "Value investing: The use of historical financial statement information to separate winners from losers," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38, pages 1-41.
    27. Brian J. Bushee, 2001. "Do Institutional Investors Prefer Near†Term Earnings over Long†Run Value?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(2), pages 207-246, June.
    28. Chung, Richard & Firth, Michael & Kim, Jeong-Bon, 2002. "Institutional monitoring and opportunistic earnings management," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 29-48, January.
    29. Amihud, Yakov, 2002. "Illiquidity and stock returns: cross-section and time-series effects," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 31-56, January.
    30. Andrew Ang & Robert J. Hodrick & Yuhang Xing & Xiaoyan Zhang, 2006. "The Cross‐Section of Volatility and Expected Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(1), pages 259-299, February.
    31. Harford, Jarrad & Klasa, Sandy & Walcott, Nathan, 2009. "Do firms have leverage targets? Evidence from acquisitions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 1-14, July.
    32. Malcolm Baker & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2002. "Market Timing and Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 1-32, February.
    33. Lin, Yongjia Rebecca & Fu, Xiaoqing Maggie, 2017. "Does institutional ownership influence firm performance? Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 17-57.
    34. Morck, Randall & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W., 1988. "Management ownership and market valuation : An empirical analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 293-315, January.
    35. Burns, Natasha & Kedia, Simi & Lipson, Marc, 2010. "Institutional ownership and monitoring: Evidence from financial misreporting," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 443-455, September.
    36. Karpavičius, Sigitas & Yu, Fan, 2017. "How institutional monitoring creates value: Evidence for the free cash flow hypothesis," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 127-146.
    37. repec:bla:jfinan:v:44:y:1989:i:1:p:19-40 is not listed on IDEAS
    38. Myers, Stewart C., 1984. "Capital structure puzzle," Working papers 1548-84., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    39. Chen, Xia & Harford, Jarrad & Li, Kai, 2007. "Monitoring: Which institutions matter?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 279-305, November.
    40. Joseph D. Piotroski & Eric C. So, 2012. "Identifying Expectation Errors in Value/Glamour Strategies: A Fundamental Analysis Approach," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(9), pages 2841-2875.
    41. repec:bla:jfinan:v:53:y:1998:i:4:p:1335-1362 is not listed on IDEAS
    42. Yaniv Grinstein & Roni Michaely, 2005. "Institutional Holdings and Payout Policy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(3), pages 1389-1426, June.
    43. Kayhan, Ayla & Titman, Sheridan, 2007. "Firms' histories and their capital structures," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 1-32, January.
    44. Myers, Stewart C, 1984. "The Capital Structure Puzzle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(3), pages 575-592, July.
    45. Fama, Eugene F & MacBeth, James D, 1973. "Risk, Return, and Equilibrium: Empirical Tests," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 607-636, May-June.
    46. Michael L. Lemmon & Michael R. Roberts & Jaime F. Zender, 2008. "Back to the Beginning: Persistence and the Cross‐Section of Corporate Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(4), pages 1575-1608, August.
    47. Mu, Congming & Wang, Anxing & Yang, Jinqiang, 2017. "Optimal capital structure with moral hazard," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 326-338.
    48. Uysal, Vahap B., 2011. "Deviation from the target capital structure and acquisition choices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(3), pages 602-620.
    49. Stewart C. Myers, 1984. "Capital Structure Puzzle," NBER Working Papers 1393, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    50. Coles, Jeffrey L. & Daniel, Naveen D. & Naveen, Lalitha, 2008. "Boards: Does one size fit all," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 329-356, February.
    51. Jay C. Hartzell & Laura T. Starks, 2003. "Institutional Investors and Executive Compensation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(6), pages 2351-2374, December.
    52. Chune Young Chung & Chang Liu & Kainan Wang & Blerina Bela Zykaj, 2015. "Institutional Monitoring: Evidence from the F-Score," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(7-8), pages 885-914, September.
    53. Gillan, Stuart L., 2006. "Recent Developments in Corporate Governance: An Overview," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 381-402, June.
    54. Park, Yun W. & Selvili, Zekiye & Song, Moon H., 2008. "Large outside blockholders as monitors: Evidence from partial acquisitions," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 529-545, October.
    55. Hovakimian, Armen & Hovakimian, Gayane & Tehranian, Hassan, 2004. "Determinants of target capital structure: The case of dual debt and equity issues," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 517-540, March.
    56. Smith, Michael P, 1996. "Shareholder Activism by Institutional Investors: Evidence for CalPERS," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(1), pages 227-252, March.
    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. Chune Young Chung & Sang Jun Cho & Doojin Ryu & Doowon Ryu, 2019. "Institutional blockholders and corporate social responsibility," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(3), pages 143-186, July.
    2. Bajaj, Yukti & Kashiramka, Smita & Singh, Shveta, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty and leverage dynamics: Evidence from an emerging economy," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    3. Tripathi, Vibha & Goodell, John W. & Madhavan, Vinodh & Kumar, Satish, 2024. "Moderating effect of capital structure on the relationship between corporate governance mechanisms and firm value: Evidence from India," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 1336-1350.
    4. Hassan, M. Kabir & Alshater, Muneer M. & Atayah, Osama F., 2021. "Twenty-nine years of the Journal of International Review of Economics and Finance: A scientometric overview (1992–2020)," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 1106-1125.

    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. Chung, Chune Young & Hur, Seok-Kyun & Liu, Chang, 2019. "Institutional investors and cost stickiness: Theory and evidence," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 336-350.
    2. Joohee Park & Chune Young Chung, 2016. "CEO Overconfidence, Leadership Ethics, and Institutional Investors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-28, December.
    3. Chung, Chune Young & Wang, Kainan, 2014. "Do institutional investors monitor management? Evidence from the relationship between institutional ownership and capital structure," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 203-233.
    4. Huang, Kershen & Shang, Chenguang, 2019. "Leverage, debt maturity, and social capital," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 26-46.
    5. Andres, Christian & Cumming, Douglas & Karabiber, Timur & Schweizer, Denis, 2014. "Do markets anticipate capital structure decisions? — Feedback effects in equity liquidity," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 133-156.
    6. Murray Z. Frank & Vidhan K. Goyal, 2009. "Capital Structure Decisions: Which Factors Are Reliably Important?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 38(1), pages 1-37, March.
    7. An, Zhe & Chen, Chen & Li, Donghui & Yin, Chao, 2021. "Foreign institutional ownership and the speed of leverage adjustment: International evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    8. Elsas, Ralf & Florysiak, David, 2008. "Empirical Capital Structure Research: New Ideas, Recent Evidence, and Methodological Issues," Discussion Papers in Business Administration 4743, University of Munich, Munich School of Management.
    9. Chune Young Chung & Chang Liu & Kainan Wang & Blerina Bela Zykaj, 2015. "Institutional Monitoring: Evidence from the F-Score," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(7-8), pages 885-914, September.
    10. Harford, Jarrad & Klasa, Sandy & Walcott, Nathan, 2009. "Do firms have leverage targets? Evidence from acquisitions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 1-14, July.
    11. Daeheon Choi & Paul Moon Sub Choi & Joung Hwa Choi & Chune Young Chung, 2020. "Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from the Role of the Largest Institutional Blockholders in the Korean Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-15, February.
    12. Ebrahim, M. Shahid & Girma, Sourafel & Shah, M. Eskandar & Williams, Jonathan, 2014. "Dynamic capital structure and political patronage: The case of Malaysia," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 117-128.
    13. Chung, Chune Young & Kim, Hyeik & Wang, Kainan, 2022. "Do domestic or foreign institutional investors matter? The case of firm information asymmetry in Korea," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    14. Wu, Xueping & Au Yeung, Chau Kin, 2012. "Firm growth type and capital structure persistence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 3427-3443.
    15. Ampenberger, Markus & Schmid, Thomas & Achleitner, Ann-Kristin & Kaserer, Christoph, 2009. "Capital structure decisions in family firms: empirical evidence from a bank-based economy," CEFS Working Paper Series 2009-05, Technische Universität München (TUM), Center for Entrepreneurial and Financial Studies (CEFS).
    16. Iván Arribas & Emili Tortosa-Ausina & TingTing Zhu, 2021. "Optimal capital structure, model uncertainty, and European SMEs," Working Papers 2021/11, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    17. Drobetz, Wolfgang & Gounopoulos, Dimitrios & Merikas, Andreas & Schröder, Henning, 2013. "Capital structure decisions of globally-listed shipping companies," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 49-76.
    18. Alexandridis, George & Antypas, Nikolaos & Gulnur, Arman & Visvikis, Ilias, 2020. "Corporate financial leverage and M&As choices: Evidence from the shipping industry," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    19. ElBannan, Mona A., 2017. "Stock market liquidity, family ownership, and capital structure choices in an emerging country," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 201-231.
    20. Mohamed, Hisham Hanifa & Masih, Mansur & Bacha, Obiyathulla I., 2015. "Why do issuers issue Sukuk or conventional bond? Evidence from Malaysian listed firms using partial adjustment models," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 233-252.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Target capital structure; Trade-off theory; Institutional monitoring; Corporate governance; Firm performance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

    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:reveco:v:58:y:2018:i:c:p:65-77. 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/inca/620165 .

    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.