IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/rqfnac/v61y2023i4d10.1007_s11156-023-01178-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

CEO marital status and corporate tax planning behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Ming-Hua Liu

    (University of Macau)

  • Shaohua Tian

    (Macau University of Science and Technology)

  • Yang Zhang

    (University of Macau
    University of Macau)

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of the marital status of chief executive officers (CEOs) on their firms’ aggressive tax planning practices. Using a sample of S&P 1500 companies from 1996 to 2018, we find that firms led by unmarried CEOs exhibit a higher level of aggressive tax planning behavior than firms led by married CEOs after controlling for firm characteristics and CEO traits. This result is robust to alternative identification strategies including propensity-score-matching design, difference-in-difference approach, and instrumental variable technique. Moreover, the attenuating impact of CEO marriage on tax planning behavior is more pronounced among firms in non-consumer-oriented industries and when CEOs have a low pay-performance sensitivity. Further analysis of with-in CEO marital status variation shows that CEOs tend to be more tax aggressive after divorce. This study enhances our understanding of the corporate finance repercussion of CEOs’ personal traits and in particular of the wide variation of firms’ aggressive tax planning.

Suggested Citation

  • Ming-Hua Liu & Shaohua Tian & Yang Zhang, 2023. "CEO marital status and corporate tax planning behavior," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 61(4), pages 1207-1242, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:rqfnac:v:61:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1007_s11156-023-01178-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s11156-023-01178-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11156-023-01178-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11156-023-01178-9?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. Md Noman Hossain & Md Nazmul Hasan Bhuyan, 2023. "CEO marital status and capital allocation efficiency," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 19(5), pages 1098-1123, February.
    2. Desai, Mihir A. & Dharmapala, Dhammika, 2006. "Corporate tax avoidance and high-powered incentives," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 145-179, January.
    3. Chen, Shuping & Chen, Xia & Cheng, Qiang & Shevlin, Terry, 2010. "Are family firms more tax aggressive than non-family firms?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 41-61, January.
    4. Tomas Hjelström & Juha-Pekka Kallunki & Henrik Nilsson & Milda Tylaite, 2020. "Executives’ Personal Tax Behavior and Corporate Tax Avoidance Consistency," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(3), pages 493-520, May.
    5. Hossain, Mahmud & Mitra, Santanu, 2023. "Does headquarters location matter in corporate tax avoidance?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    6. Hossain, Md Noman & Rabarison, Monika K. & Ater, Brandon & Sobngwi, Christian K., 2023. "CEO marital status and dividend policy," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    7. Hegde, Shantaram P. & Mishra, Dev R., 2019. "Married CEOs and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 226-246.
    8. Chyz, James A., 2013. "Personally tax aggressive executives and corporate tax sheltering," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 311-328.
    9. Antonio Falato & Dan Li & Todd Milbourn, 2015. "Which Skills Matter in the Market for CEOs? Evidence from Pay for CEO Credentials," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(12), pages 2845-2869, December.
    10. Armstrong, Christopher S. & Blouin, Jennifer L. & Larcker, David F., 2012. "The incentives for tax planning," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 391-411.
    11. Gina Nicolosi & Adam S. Yore, 2015. "“I Do”: Does Marital Status Affect How Much CEOs “Do”?," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 50(1), pages 57-88, January.
    12. Cronqvist, Henrik & Makhija, Anil K. & Yonker, Scott E., 2012. "Behavioral consistency in corporate finance: CEO personal and corporate leverage," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(1), pages 20-40.
    13. Francis, Bill & Hasan, Iftekhar & Wu, Qiang & Yan, Meng, 2014. "Are female CFOs less tax aggressive? Evidence from tax aggressiveness," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 16/2014, Bank of Finland.
    14. Ming-Chin Chen & Chia-Wen Chang & Mei-Chueh Lee, 2020. "The effect of chief financial officers’ accounting expertise on corporate tax avoidance: the role of compensation design," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 273-296, January.
    15. Nicolosi, Gina, 2013. "Demographics of dividends," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 54-70.
    16. Jennifer Blouin & Linda Krull, 2009. "Bringing It Home: A Study of the Incentives Surrounding the Repatriation of Foreign Earnings Under the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(4), pages 1027-1059, September.
    17. Gilles Hilary & Sterling Huang & Yanping Xu, 2017. "Marital Status and Earnings Management," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(1), pages 153-158, January.
    18. Arena, Matteo P. & Wang, Bin & Yang, Rong, 2021. "Securities litigation and corporate tax avoidance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    19. Coles, Jeffrey L. & Daniel, Naveen D. & Naveen, Lalitha, 2006. "Managerial incentives and risk-taking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 431-468, February.
    20. Chansog (Francis) Kim & Liandong Zhang, 2016. "Corporate Political Connections and Tax Aggressiveness," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(1), pages 78-114, March.
    21. Sonja Olhoft Rego & Ryan Wilson, 2012. "Equity Risk Incentives and Corporate Tax Aggressiveness," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 775-810, June.
    22. Shackelford, Douglas A. & Shevlin, Terry, 2001. "Empirical tax research in accounting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 321-387, September.
    23. Morten Bennedsen & Francisco Pérez‐González & Daniel Wolfenzon, 2020. "Do CEOs Matter? Evidence from Hospitalization Events," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(4), pages 1877-1911, August.
    24. Long Liu & Hongkang Xu & Mai Dao & Hua Sun, 2023. "Pilot CEOs and tax avoidance: evidence from machine learning methods," Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting & Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 14-29, January.
    25. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2014_016 is not listed on IDEAS
    26. Mohammed Benlemlih & Jamil Jaballah & Sholom Schochet & Jonathan Peillex, 2023. "Corporate social responsibility and corporate tax avoidance: The channel effect of consumer awareness," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-04077729, HAL.
    27. Mohammed Benlemlih & Jamil Jaballah & Sholom Schochet & Jonathan Peillex, 2023. "Corporate social responsibility and corporate tax avoidance: The channel effect of consumer awareness," Post-Print hal-04077729, HAL.
    28. Duan, Tinghua & Ding, Rong & Hou, Wenxuan & Zhang, John Ziyang, 2018. "The burden of attention: CEO publicity and tax avoidance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 90-101.
    29. Sabrina Chi & Shawn X. Huang & Juan Manuel Sanchez, 2017. "CEO Inside Debt Incentives and Corporate Tax Sheltering," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(4), pages 837-876, September.
    30. Badertscher, Brad A. & Katz, Sharon P. & Rego, Sonja O., 2013. "The separation of ownership and control and corporate tax avoidance," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 228-250.
    31. Grahame Dowling, 2014. "The Curious Case of Corporate Tax Avoidance: Is it Socially Irresponsible?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 173-184, September.
    32. Guo, Yingwen & Li, Jingjing & Lin, Bingxuan, 2023. "Corporate site visit and tax avoidance: The effects of monitoring and tax knowledge dissemination," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    33. Michael P. Donohoe & W. Robert Knechel, 2014. "Does Corporate Tax Aggressiveness Influence Audit Pricing?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(1), pages 284-308, March.
    34. Kimberly A. Whitler & Ben Lee & Ryan Krause & Neil A. Morgan, 2021. "Upper echelons research in marketing," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 198-219, January.
    35. Mohammed Benlemlih & Jamil Jaballah & Sholom Schochet & Jonathan Peillex, 2023. "Corporate social responsibility and corporate tax avoidance: The channel effect of consumer awareness," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1-2), pages 31-60, January.
    36. Maurice Levi & Kai Li & Feng Zhang, 2010. "Deal or No Deal: Hormones and the Mergers and Acquisitions Game," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(9), pages 1462-1483, September.
    37. Kelvin K. F. Law & Lillian F. Mills, 2017. "Military experience and corporate tax avoidance," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 141-184, March.
    38. Wen, Wen & Cui, Huijie & Ke, Yun, 2020. "Directors with foreign experience and corporate tax avoidance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    39. Allison Koester & Terry Shevlin & Daniel Wangerin, 2017. "The Role of Managerial Ability in Corporate Tax Avoidance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(10), pages 3285-3310, October.
    40. Hanlon, Michelle & Slemrod, Joel, 2009. "What does tax aggressiveness signal? Evidence from stock price reactions to news about tax shelter involvement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1-2), pages 126-141, February.
    41. Jones, Jj, 1991. "Earnings Management During Import Relief Investigations," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 193-228.
    42. Nikolai Roussanov & Pavel Savor, 2014. "Marriage and Managers' Attitudes to Risk," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(10), pages 2496-2508, October.
    43. Cohn, Richard A, et al, 1975. "Individual Investor Risk Aversion and Investment Portfolio Composition," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 30(2), pages 605-620, May.
    44. Mikko Manner, 2010. "The Impact of CEO Characteristics on Corporate Social Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 93(1), pages 53-72, June.
    45. Issam Laguir & Raffaele Staglianò, 2014. "How do powerful CEOs manage corporate tax aggressiveness?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 34(3), pages 1361-1368.
    46. Dane M. Christensen & Dan S. Dhaliwal & Steven Boivie & Scott D. Graffin, 2015. "Top management conservatism and corporate risk strategies: Evidence from managers' personal political orientation and corporate tax avoidance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(12), pages 1918-1938, December.
    47. Kim, Jeong-Bon & Liao, Shushu & Liu, Yangke, 2021. "Married CEOs and Stock Price Crash Risk," QBS Working Paper Series 2021/09, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's Business School.
    48. Fangjun Wang & Shuolei Xu & Junqin Sun & Charles P. Cullinan, 2020. "Corporate Tax Avoidance: A Literature Review And Research Agenda," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 793-811, September.
    49. Chyz, James A. & Ching Leung, Winnie Siu & Zhen Li, Oliver & Meng Rui, Oliver, 2013. "Labor unions and tax aggressiveness," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(3), pages 675-698.
    50. John Core & Wayne Guay, 2002. "Estimating the Value of Employee Stock Option Portfolios and Their Sensitivities to Price and Volatility," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(3), pages 613-630, June.
    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. Kovermann, Jost & Velte, Patrick, 2019. "The impact of corporate governance on corporate tax avoidance—A literature review," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 1-1.
    2. Fangjun Wang & Shuolei Xu & Junqin Sun & Charles P. Cullinan, 2020. "Corporate Tax Avoidance: A Literature Review And Research Agenda," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 793-811, September.
    3. Francis, Bill B. & Hasan, Iftekhar & Sun, Xian & Wu, Qiang, 2016. "CEO political preference and corporate tax sheltering," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 37-53.
    4. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2016_005 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Francis, Bill B. & Hasan, Iftekhar & Sun, Xian & Wu, Qiang, 2016. "CEO political preference and corporate tax sheltering," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 5/2016, Bank of Finland.
    6. Francis, Bill B. & Hasan, Iftekhar & Sun, Xian & Wu, Qiang, 2016. "CEO political preference and corporate tax sheltering," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 37-53.
    7. Chaudhry, Neeru, 2021. "Tax aggressiveness and idiosyncratic volatility," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    8. Christofer Adrian & Mukesh Garg & Anh Viet Pham & Soon-Yeow Phang & Cameron Truong, 2023. "Do Natural Disasters Affect Corporate Tax Avoidance? The Case of Drought," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 186(1), pages 105-135, August.
    9. Ke Na & Wenjia Yan, 2022. "Languages and corporate tax avoidance," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 148-184, March.
    10. Francisco J. Delgado & Elena Fernández-Rodríguez & Roberto García-Fernández & Manuel Landajo & Antonio Martínez-Arias, 2023. "Tax avoidance and earnings management: a neural network approach for the largest European economies," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 1-25, December.
    11. Shen, Yuxin & Xu, Hanwen & Yu, Shuangli & Xu, Wei & Shen, Yongjian, 2022. "Air pollution and tax avoidance: New evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 402-420.
    12. Martin Jacob & Anna Rohlfing-Bastian & Kai Sandner, 2021. "Why do not all firms engage in tax avoidance?," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 459-495, February.
    13. Alharbi, Samar & Atawnah, Nader & Al Mamun, Md & Ali, Muhammad Jahangir, 2022. "Local culture and tax avoidance: Evidence from gambling preference behavior," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    14. Chyz, James A., 2013. "Personally tax aggressive executives and corporate tax sheltering," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 311-328.
    15. Dyreng, Scott D. & Hanlon, Michelle & Maydew, Edward L. & Thornock, Jacob R., 2017. "Changes in corporate effective tax rates over the past 25 years," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(3), pages 441-463.
    16. James A. Chyz & Fabio B. Gaertner & Asad Kausar & Luke Watson, 2019. "Overconfidence and Corporate Tax Policy," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 1114-1145, September.
    17. Yi-Hsing Liao & Teng-Sheng Sang & Yuan-Tang Tsai, 2022. "Do information sources matter in corporate tax avoidance? The roles of peer effects and director interlocks," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 339-382, July.
    18. Mahmud Hossain & Gerald J. Lobo & Santanu Mitra, 2023. "Firm-level political risk and corporate tax avoidance," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 295-327, January.
    19. 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).
    20. Giulia Flamini & Paola Vola & Lucrezia Songini & Luca Gnan, 2021. "The Determinants of Tax Aggressiveness in Family Firms: An Investigation of Italian Private Family Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-21, July.
    21. Jiang, Wei & Zhang, Cheng & Si, Chengyu, 2022. "The real effect of mandatory CSR disclosure: Evidence of corporate tax avoidance," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    CEO; Marital status; Aggressive tax planning;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • M12 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Personnel Management; Executives; Executive Compensation
    • M21 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Economics - - - Business Economics
    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting

    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:kap:rqfnac:v:61:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1007_s11156-023-01178-9. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://springer.com .

    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.