IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/emffin/v22y2023i4p382-408.html

Stretch or Suppress: Role of Owners and Nominee Directors in Financial Distress

Author

Listed:
  • Swechha Chada
  • Sumit Banerjee

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of various firm-level corporate governance mechanisms on the likelihood of financial distress in India. We analyze the competing hypotheses of interest alignment and agency theory, examining how controlling shareholders affect the probability of financial distress. Additionally, we assess the potential impact of institutional investor shareholding and bank-appointed directors on the likelihood of financial distress. Our findings suggest that increasing controlling shareholder ownership decreases the probability of distress. However, the effects of institutional investors and bank-appointed directors vary and also depend on the quantum of shareholding of institutional investors and affiliation with business groups. Our results offer insights into improving governance in economies with higher ownership concentration, weaker institutional frameworks, and greater bank participation in credit facilitation. JEL Codes: G32, G33, G34

Suggested Citation

  • Swechha Chada & Sumit Banerjee, 2023. "Stretch or Suppress: Role of Owners and Nominee Directors in Financial Distress," Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, vol. 22(4), pages 382-408, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:emffin:v:22:y:2023:i:4:p:382-408
    DOI: 10.1177/09726527231183014
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09726527231183014
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/09726527231183014?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jindal, Varun & Seth, Rama, 2019. "A new order of financing investments: Evidence from acquisitions by India’s listed firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 307-328.
    2. Ahsan Habib & Mabel D' Costa & Hedy Jiaying Huang & Md. Borhan Uddin Bhuiyan & Li Sun, 2020. "Determinants and consequences of financial distress: review of the empirical literature," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(S1), pages 1023-1075, April.
    3. Shane Magee, 2013. "The effect of foreign currency hedging on the probability of financial distress," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 53(4), pages 1107-1127, December.
    4. Mangena, Musa & Priego, Alba Maria & Manzaneque, Montserrat, 2020. "Bank power, block ownership, boards and financial distress likelihood: An investigation of Spanish listed firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    5. Yakov Amihud & Baruch Lev, 1981. "Risk Reduction as a Managerial Motive for Conglomerate Mergers," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 12(2), pages 605-617, Autumn.
    6. Chauhan, Yogesh & Dey, Dipanjan Kumar & Jha, Rajneesh Ranjan, 2016. "Board structure, controlling ownership, and business groups: Evidence from India," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 63-83.
    7. Nachane, D M & Ghosh, Saibal & Ray, Partha, 2005. "Bank nominee directors and corporate performance: micro evidence for India," MPRA Paper 2707, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Gregory D. Kane & Uma Velury & Bernadette M. Ruf, 2005. "Employee Relations and the Likelihood of Occurrence of Corporate Financial Distress," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(5-6), pages 1083-1105.
    9. Manzaneque, Montserrat & Merino, Elena & Priego, Alba María, 2016. "The role of institutional shareholders as owners and directors and the financial distress likelihood. Evidence from a concentrated ownership context," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 439-451.
    10. Zong-Jun Wang & Xiao-Lan Deng, 2006. "Corporate Governance and Financial Distress: Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies," Chinese Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(5), pages 5-27, October.
    11. Andreas Charitou & Neophytos Lambertides & Lenos Trigeorgis, 2007. "Earnings Behaviour of Financially Distressed Firms: The Role of Institutional Ownership," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 43(3), pages 271-296, September.
    12. Dan Hu & Haiyan Zheng, 2015. "Does ownership structure affect the degree of corporate financial distress in China?," Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 5(1), pages 35-50, February.
    13. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez‐De‐Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 1999. "Corporate Ownership Around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(2), pages 471-517, April.
    14. Kabir, Md Nurul & Miah, Mohammad Dulal & Ali, Searat & Sharma, Parmendra, 2020. "Institutional and foreign ownership vis-à-vis default risk: Evidence from Japanese firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 469-493.
    15. Chauhan, Yogesh & Pathak, Rajesh & Kumar, Satish, 2018. "Do bank-appointed directors affect corporate cash holding?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 39-56.
    16. repec:eme:mfppss:mf-06-2020-0332 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Nemiraja Jadiyappa & Garima Sisodia & Anto Joseph & Santosh Shrivastsava & Pavana Jyothi, 2020. "Creditors' governance, information asymmetry and debt diversification: evidence from India," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 17(2), pages 282-302, June.
    18. William H. Beaver & Stefano Cascino & Maria Correia & Maureen F. McNichols, 2019. "Group Affiliation and Default Prediction," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(8), pages 3559-3584, August.
    19. Ahmed Al‐Hadi & Bikram Chatterjee & Ali Yaftian & Grantley Taylor & Mostafa Monzur Hasan, 2019. "Corporate social responsibility performance, financial distress and firm life cycle: evidence from Australia," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 59(2), pages 961-989, June.
    20. JOSEPH A. McCAHERY & ZACHARIAS SAUTNER & LAURA T. STARKS, 2016. "Behind the Scenes: The Corporate Governance Preferences of Institutional Investors," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(6), pages 2905-2932, December.
    21. Lee, Eun Jung & Chae, Joon & Lee, Yu Kyung, 2018. "Family ownership and risk taking," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 69-75.
    22. Lee, Yung Sheng & Rosenstein, Stuart & Wyatt, Jeffrey G., 1999. "The value of financial outside directors on corporate boards," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 421-431, November.
    23. Erkens, David H. & Hung, Mingyi & Matos, Pedro, 2012. "Corporate governance in the 2007–2008 financial crisis: Evidence from financial institutions worldwide," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 389-411.
    24. Beaver, William H & Cascino, Stefano & Correia, Maria & McNichols, Maureen F., 2019. "Group affiliation and default prediction," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 88139, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    25. Miglani, Seema & Ahmed, Kamran & Henry, Darren, 2015. "Voluntary corporate governance structure and financial distress: Evidence from Australia," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 18-30.
    26. Shu-Mei Chiang & Huimin Chung & Chien-Ming Huang & Robert Faff, 2015. "A note on board characteristics, ownership structure and default risk in Taiwan," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 55(1), pages 57-74, March.
    27. Kaveri Krishnan & Sankarshan Basu & Ashok Thampy, 2020. "Has the Global Financial Crisis Changed the Market Response to Credit Ratings? Evidence from an Emerging Market," Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, vol. 19(1), pages 7-32, April.
    28. Gregory D. Kane & Uma Velury & Bernadette M. Ruf, 2005. "Employee Relations and the Likelihood of Occurrence of Corporate Financial Distress," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(5‐6), pages 1083-1105, June.
    29. Jounghyeon Kim, 2020. "Determinants of Corporate Bankruptcy: Evidence from Chaebol and Non‐Chaebol Firms in Korea," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 34(3), pages 275-300, September.
    30. Nemiraja Jadiyappa & Garima Sisodia & Anto Joseph & Santosh Shrivastsava & Pavana Jyothi, 2020. "Creditors' governance, information asymmetry and debt diversification: evidence from India," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 17(2), pages 282-302, June.
    31. Eliezer Fich & Steve Slezak, 2008. "Can corporate governance save distressed firms from bankruptcy? An empirical analysis," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 225-251, February.
    32. Lian, Yili, 2017. "Financial distress and customer-supplier relationships," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 397-406.
    33. Khawaja, Mohsin & Bhatti, M. Ishaq & Ashraf, Dawood, 2019. "Ownership and control in a double decision framework for raising capital," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    34. Ohlson, Ja, 1980. "Financial Ratios And The Probabilistic Prediction Of Bankruptcy," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(1), pages 109-131.
    35. Gupta, C.P. & Bedi, Prateek, 2020. "Corporate cash holdings and promoter ownership," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    36. Sara Sofia Gomes Mariano & Javad Izadi & Maurice Pratt, 2021. "Can we predict the likelihood of financial distress in companies from their corporate governance and borrowing?," International Journal of Accounting & Information Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(2), pages 305-323, January.
    37. Han Donker & Bernard Santen & Saif Zahir, 2009. "Ownership structure and the likelihood of financial distress in the Netherlands," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(21), pages 1687-1696.
    38. Byrd, Daniel T. & Mizruchi, Mark S., 2005. "Bankers on the board and the debt ratio of firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 11(1-2), pages 129-173, March.
    39. Ho, Po-Hsin & Huang, Chia-Wei & Lin, Chih-Yung & Yen, Ju-Fang, 2016. "CEO overconfidence and financial crisis: Evidence from bank lending and leverage," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(1), pages 194-209.
    40. Saumitra Bhaduri, 2015. "Why do Firms Issue Equity?," Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, vol. 14(1), pages 59-85, April.
    41. Panicker, Vidya Sukumara & Mitra, Sumit & Upadhyayula, Rajesh Srinivas, 2019. "Institutional investors and international investments in emerging economy firms: A behavioral risk perspective," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 54(4), pages 322-334.
    42. Powell, Melanie & Ansic, David, 1997. "Gender differences in risk behaviour in financial decision-making: An experimental analysis," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 18(6), pages 605-628, November.
    43. Tsun‐Siou Lee & Yin‐Hua Yeh, 2004. "Corporate Governance and Financial Distress: evidence from Taiwan," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(3), pages 378-388, July.
    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. Muhammed Suhail PS & Rishabh Goswami & Arun Kumar Gopalaswamy, 2025. "Corporate governance mechanisms and financial distress: evidence from a meta-analytic perspective," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 345-391, September.

    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. Ahsan Habib & Mabel D' Costa & Hedy Jiaying Huang & Md. Borhan Uddin Bhuiyan & Li Sun, 2020. "Determinants and consequences of financial distress: review of the empirical literature," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(S1), pages 1023-1075, April.
    2. Mehmet Celiktas & Mine Ugurlu & Neslihan Yilmaz, 2025. "Corporate governance, blockholders, and financial distress: Global evidence," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 65(2), pages 1347-1398, June.
    3. Umair Bin Yousaf & Khalil Jebran & Irfan Ullah, 2024. "Corporate governance and financial distress: A review of the theoretical and empirical literature," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 1627-1679, April.
    4. Bravo-Urquiza, Francisco & Moreno-Ureba, Elena, 2021. "Does compliance with corporate governance codes help to mitigate financial distress?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    5. Kabir, Md Nurul & Miah, Mohammad Dulal & Ali, Searat & Sharma, Parmendra, 2020. "Institutional and foreign ownership vis-à-vis default risk: Evidence from Japanese firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 469-493.
    6. Sumaira Ashraf & Elisabete G. S. Félix & Zélia Serrasqueiro, 2022. "Does board committee independence affect financial distress likelihood? A comparison of China with the UK," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 723-761, June.
    7. Hui Li & Ting Sun & Jinquan Zhang, 2024. "Prediction of corporate financial distress based on corporate social responsibility: New evidence from DANP, VWP and MEOWA weights methodologies," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 64(5), pages 4537-4565, December.
    8. Lagasio, Valentina & Brogi, Marina & Gallucci, Carmen & Santulli, Rosalia, 2023. "May board committees reduce the probability of financial distress? A survival analysis on Italian listed companies," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    9. Yuan George Shan & Indrit Troshani & Jimin Wang & Lu Zhang, 2023. "Managerial ownership and financial distress: evidence from the Chinese stock market," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(1), pages 192-221, May.
    10. Manzaneque, Montserrat & Merino, Elena & Priego, Alba María, 2016. "The role of institutional shareholders as owners and directors and the financial distress likelihood. Evidence from a concentrated ownership context," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 439-451.
    11. Manzaneque, Montserrat & Priego, Alba María & Merino, Elena, 2016. "Corporate governance effect on financial distress likelihood: Evidence from Spain," Revista de Contabilidad - Spanish Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 111-121.
    12. Chada, Swechha & Saravanan, Palanisamy & Varadharajan, Gopal, 2024. "Socioemotional wealth and cash flow sensitivity of cash: Evidence from India," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(PA).
    13. Liu, Xinheng & Lv, Shumei & Yang, Xin & Cao, Jie & Huang, Chuangxia, 2025. "Extreme temperature shocks and firms’ financial distress," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    14. Vuong, Giang Thi Huong & Nguyen, Phuc Van & Barky, Walid & Nguyen, Manh Huu, 2024. "Stock return volatility and financial distress: Moderating roles of ownership structure, managerial ability, and financial constraints," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 634-652.
    15. Boubaker, Sabri & Cellier, Alexis & Manita, Riadh & Saeed, Asif, 2020. "Does corporate social responsibility reduce financial distress risk?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 835-851.
    16. Hao, Ying & Zhao, Min & Wei, Zi, 2024. "Can military executives overcome difficulties in corporate value creation? ——Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    17. Mst. Maksuda Begum & Niluthpaul Sarker & Shamsun Nahar, 2023. "The Impact of Corporate Governance Attributes on Financial Distress among the Listed Firms in Pharmaceuticals Industry of Bangladesh," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 13(6), pages 155-167, November.
    18. Mangena, Musa & Priego, Alba Maria & Manzaneque, Montserrat, 2020. "Bank power, block ownership, boards and financial distress likelihood: An investigation of Spanish listed firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    19. Aitzaz Ahsan Alias Sarang & Asad Ali Rind & Riadh Manita & Asif Saeed, 2025. "Does a co‐opted director affect a firm's financial distress risk?," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 1275-1301, April.
    20. Niluthpaul Sarker & S. M. Khaled Hossain, 2023. "Ownership Structure and Financial Distress: Investigating the Moderating Effect of Audit Quality," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 13(6), pages 187-202, November.

    More about this item

    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
    • G33 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Bankruptcy; Liquidation
    • 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:sae:emffin:v:22:y:2023:i:4:p:382-408. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ifmr.ac.in .

    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.