IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-04925276.html

How does the heterogeneity of institutional investors influence corporate tax avoidance? The moderating role of family ownership

Author

Listed:
  • R. Benkraiem

    (Audencia Business School)

  • F. Lakhal
  • A. Slama

Abstract

This study provides new insights into the relationship between the heterogeneity of institutional investors (IIs) and corporate tax avoidance (CTA). It also investigates whether family ownership moderates this relationship. Based on a sample of 200 French-listed firms from 2008 to 2017, we use the generalized method of moment (GMM) estimator proposed by Arellano and Bover (1995) and developed by Blundell and Bond (1998) to address endogeneity and omitted variable concerns. The results show that passive IIs are associated with an increase in the level of tax avoidance. However, active ones significantly decrease the levels of tax avoidance practices. Moreover, we show that institutional activism is not sufficient to control managerial actions, particularly in the context of controlled family businesses. The results suggest that families may expropriate the rights of minority shareholders through a controlling coalition with passive IIs. This study has several practical implications. First, the results are useful for policymakers who should constrain passive IIs to provide only one service (asset management). Second, this study may sensitize family owners to the need to cooperate with active IIs that are effective in monitoring the firm. In particular, families should be willing to sacrifice some of their socioemotional wealth to promote a balanced ownership structure, which is important for responsible and effective corporate governance. This paper extends previous research by investigating the heterogeneity of IIs in terms of horizon, ownership and control. In addition, this paper sheds a new light on how family firms behave regarding tax avoidance practices in the presence of active and passive IIs.

Suggested Citation

  • R. Benkraiem & F. Lakhal & A. Slama, 2024. "How does the heterogeneity of institutional investors influence corporate tax avoidance? The moderating role of family ownership," Post-Print hal-04925276, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04925276
    DOI: 10.1108/IJMF-11-2022-0501
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-04925276v1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-04925276v1/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/IJMF-11-2022-0501?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. Thomas R. Kubick & G. Brandon Lockhart, 2017. "Overconfidence, CEO Awards, and Corporate Tax Aggressiveness," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(5-6), pages 728-754, May.
    2. Lee, Cheng-Hsun & Bose, Sudipta, 2021. "Do family firms engage in less tax avoidance than non-family firms? The corporate opacity perspective," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2).
    3. Boubaker, Sabri & Labégorre, Florence, 2008. "Ownership structure, corporate governance and analyst following: A study of French listed firms," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 961-976, June.
    4. W. Sean Cleary & Jun Wang, 2017. "Institutional investors, monitoring and corporate finance policies," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 13(2), pages 186-212, April.
    5. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    6. Villalonga, Belen & Amit, Raphael, 2006. "How do family ownership, control and management affect firm value?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 385-417, May.
    7. 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.
    8. Otávio Gomes Cabello & Luiz Eduardo Gaio & Christoph Watrin, 2019. "Tax avoidance in management-owned firms: evidence from Brazil," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 15(4), pages 580-592, April.
    9. Mafrolla, Elisabetta & D’Amico, Eugenio, 2016. "Tax aggressiveness in family firms and the non-linear entrenchment effect," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 178-184.
    10. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1986. "Large Shareholders and Corporate Control," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(3), pages 461-488, June.
    11. W. Sean Cleary & Jun Wang, 2017. "Institutional investors, monitoring and corporate finance policies," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 13(2), pages 186-212, April.
    12. 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.
    13. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:2:p:537-600 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. 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.
    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. 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.
    17. Brickley, James A. & Lease, Ronald C. & Smith, Clifford Jr., 1988. "Ownership structure and voting on antitakeover amendments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 267-291, January.
    18. Hanlon, Michelle & Heitzman, Shane, 2010. "A review of tax research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 127-178, December.
    19. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez‐de‐Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 2000. "Agency Problems and Dividend Policies around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 1-33, February.
    20. Pound, John, 1988. "Proxy contests and the efficiency of shareholder oversight," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 237-265, January.
    21. Boone, Audra L. & White, Joshua T., 2015. "The effect of institutional ownership on firm transparency and information production," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(3), pages 508-533.
    22. Mário S. Santos & António C. Moreira & Elisabete S. Vieira, 2015. "Governance with complex structures: evidence from Western European countries," Journal of Business Economics and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(3), pages 542-557, June.
    23. Benkraiem, Ramzi & Gaaya, Safa & Lakhal, Faten, 2022. "Corporate tax avoidance, economic policy uncertainty, and the value of excess cash: International evidence," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    24. Armstrong, Christopher S. & Blouin, Jennifer L. & Jagolinzer, Alan D. & Larcker, David F., 2015. "Corporate governance, incentives, and tax avoidance," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 1-17.
    25. Shams, Syed & Bose, Sudipta & Gunasekarage, Abeyratna, 2022. "Does corporate tax avoidance promote managerial empire building?," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1).
    26. Talat Afza & Mian Sajid Nazir, 2015. "Role of Institutional Shareholders’ Activism in Enhancing Firm Performance: The Case of Pakistan," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 16(4), pages 557-570, August.
    27. Ramzi Benkraiem & Safa Gaaya & Faten Lakhal, 2022. "Corporate tax avoidance, economic policy uncertainty, and the value of excess cash: International evidence," Post-Print hal-03562552, HAL.
    28. 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.
    29. 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.
    30. Roman Lanis & Grant Richardson, 2012. "Corporate social responsibility and tax aggressiveness: a test of legitimacy theory," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 26(1), pages 75-100, December.
    31. Cronqvist, Henrik & Nilsson, Mattias, 2003. "Agency Costs of Controlling Minority Shareholders," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(4), pages 695-719, December.
    32. Khan, Raihan & Dharwadkar, Ravi & Brandes, Pamela, 2005. "Institutional ownership and CEO compensation: a longitudinal examination," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(8), pages 1078-1088, August.
    33. Otávio Gomes Cabello & Luiz Eduardo Gaio & Christoph Watrin, 2019. "Tax avoidance in management-owned firms: evidence from Brazil," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 15(4), pages 580-592, April.
    34. Kim, Hyun-Dong & Kim, Yura & Mantecon, Tomas & Song, Kyojik Roy, 2019. "Short-term institutional investors and agency costs of debt," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 195-210.
    35. Lin, Shannon & Tong, Naqiong & Tucker, Alan L., 2014. "Corporate tax aggression and debt," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 227-241.
    36. Ramzi Benkraiem & Safa Gaaya & Faten Lakhal, 2022. "Corporate tax avoidance, economic policy uncertainty, and the value of excess cash: International evidence," Post-Print hal-03509359, HAL.
    37. Armstrong, Christopher S. & Blouin, Jennifer L. & Jagolinzer, Alan D. & Larcker, David F., 2015. "Corporate Governance, Incentives, and Tax Avoidance," Research Papers 2134, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    38. Richard A. Johnson & Karen Schnatterly & Scott G. Johnson & Shih‐Chi Chiu, 2010. "Institutional Investors and Institutional Environment: A Comparative Analysis and Review," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(8), pages 1590-1613, December.
    39. repec:bla:jomstd:v:47:y:2010:i:s2:p:1590-1613 is not listed on IDEAS
    40. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    41. Ekkehart Boehmer & Eric K. Kelley, 2009. "Institutional Investors and the Informational Efficiency of Prices," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(9), pages 3563-3594, September.
    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. Vasileios Giannopoulos & Maria Vlachakou & Spyridon Kariofyllas & Ilias Makris, 2025. "Corporate Governance and Tax Avoidance: Evidence from Greek Service-Sector Firms," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-34, 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. Mário Santos & António Moreira & Elisabete Vieira, 2014. "Ownership concentration, contestability, family firms, and capital structure," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 18(4), pages 1063-1107, November.
    2. Kałdoński, Michał & Jewartowski, Tomasz, 2025. "Are institutional investors effective monitors in a country where closely held firms predominate? Insights from agency problem-driven dividend payouts," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(PB).
    3. María Consuelo Pucheta-Martínez & Inmaculada Bel-Oms & Gustau Olcina-Sempere, 2018. "Female Institutional Directors on Boards and Firm Value," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(2), pages 343-363, October.
    4. Kovermann, Jost & Wendt, Martin, 2019. "Tax avoidance in family firms: Evidence from large private firms," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 145-157.
    5. Benkraiem, Ramzi & Gaaya, Safa & Lakhal, Faten & Kilic, Merve, 2025. "Access to finance and corporate tax avoidance: International evidence," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    6. Gupta, C.P. & Bedi, Prateek, 2020. "Corporate cash holdings and promoter ownership," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    7. Jean-Jacques Hamon, 2001. "La répartition des droits de vote, leur exercice et l’efficacité économique," Revue d'Économie Financière, Programme National Persée, vol. 63(3), pages 175-209.
    8. Abdulaziz A. Alomran, 2024. "Do Long-Term Institutional Shareholders Always Vote in Favour of Board Recommendations? The Moderating Effect of Cash Holdings," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-19, November.
    9. 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.
    10. Aziz Jaafar & Lynn Hodgkinson & Mao-Feng Kao, 2019. "Ownership Structure, Board of Directors and Firm Performance: Evidence from Taiwan," Working Papers 19011, Bangor Business School, Prifysgol Bangor University (Cymru / Wales).
    11. Wei Huang & Tingting Ying & Yun Shen, 2018. "Executive cash compensation and tax aggressiveness of Chinese firms," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 1151-1180, November.
    12. Wang, Qin (Emma) & Zhang, Jun, 2023. "Local institutional investors and debt maturity," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    13. Rossi, Fabrizio & Barth, James R. & Cebula, Richard J., 2018. "Do shareholder coalitions affect agency costs? Evidence from Italian-listed companies," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 181-200.
    14. Chou, Shu-Ching & Shih, Chia-Jung, 2020. "Like father, like son? Diversification decision and related performance of family firm successors – Evidence from Taiwan," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 209-220.
    15. Deng, Xin & Ali, Hesham & Aboelkheir, Heba, 2025. "Unleashing creative potential: The role of stable institutional ownership in exploratory innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(3).
    16. Lartey, Theophilus & Uddin, Moshfique & Danso, Albert & Wood, Geoffrey, 2022. "CEO overconfidence and IRS attention," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    17. Athira, A. & Ramesh, Vishnu K., 2024. "Economic policy uncertainty and tax avoidance: International evidence," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    18. Ruiz-Mallorquí, María Victoria & Santana-Martín, Domingo J., 2011. "Dominant institutional owners and firm value," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 118-129, January.
    19. Stavros E. Arvanitis & Theodoros V. Stamatopoulos & Dimitris Terzakis, 2018. "Is There a Non-linear Relationship of Market Value with Cash and Ownership?," SPOUDAI Journal of Economics and Business, SPOUDAI Journal of Economics and Business, University of Piraeus, vol. 68(1), pages 3-25, January-M.
    20. Imen Derouiche & Majdi Hassan & Sarra Amdouni, 2018. "Ownership structure and investment-cash flow sensitivity," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 22(1), pages 31-54, March.

    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:hal:journl:hal-04925276. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.