IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jbfnac/v49y2022i9-10p1929-1956.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Board corruption and loan contracts

Author

Listed:
  • Robin Chen
  • Chia‐Wei Huang
  • Chih‐Yung Lin

Abstract

In this study, we examine the effects of board corruption on the financing costs of firms. We construct an index of perceived corruption that uses the average level of corruption that is linked to a director's surname. The evidence shows that lending banks attach higher spreads and stricter covenants to the loan contracts of firms with high perceived board corruption. Specifically, when the perceived board corruption increases after mergers and acquisitions, firms are charged higher loan spreads. Further analysis shows that the effects of board corruption on financing costs become stronger when firms have weak governance mechanisms. These results show that banks recognize board corruption as a source of agency problem with borrowers when they make lending decisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Robin Chen & Chia‐Wei Huang & Chih‐Yung Lin, 2022. "Board corruption and loan contracts," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(9-10), pages 1929-1956, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jbfnac:v:49:y:2022:i:9-10:p:1929-1956
    DOI: 10.1111/jbfa.12604
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jbfa.12604
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jbfa.12604?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. Ayyagari, Meghana & Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli & Maksimovic, Vojislav, 2014. "Bribe Payments and Innovation in Developing Countries: Are Innovating Firms Disproportionately Affected?," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 49(1), pages 51-75, February.
    2. Paligorova, Teodora & Xu, Zhaoxia, 2012. "Complex ownership and capital structure," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 701-716.
    3. Jakob Svensson, 2003. "Who Must Pay Bribes and How Much? Evidence from a Cross Section of Firms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(1), pages 207-230.
    4. Lin, Chih-Yung & Tsai, Wei-Che & Hasan, Iftekhar & Tuan, Le Quoc, 2018. "Private benefits of control and bank loan contracts," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 324-343.
    5. Baldenius, Tim & Melumad, Nahum & Meng, Xiaojing, 2014. "Board composition and CEO power," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(1), pages 53-68.
    6. Graham, John R. & Li, Si & Qiu, Jiaping, 2008. "Corporate misreporting and bank loan contracting," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 44-61, July.
    7. Oliver Hart, 2001. "Financial Contracting," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(4), pages 1079-1100, December.
    8. Pan, Yihui & Siegel, Stephan & Wang, Tracy Yue, 2017. "Corporate Risk Culture," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(6), pages 2327-2367, December.
    9. Tien‐Shih Hsieh & Byron Y. Song & Ray R. Wang & Xinlu Wang, 2019. "Management earnings forecasts and bank loan contracting," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(5-6), pages 712-738, May.
    10. Renee B. Adams & Benjamin E. Hermalin & Michael S. Weisbach, 2010. "The Role of Boards of Directors in Corporate Governance: A Conceptual Framework and Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(1), pages 58-107, March.
    11. Masulis, Ronald W. & Wang, Cong & Xie, Fei, 2012. "Globalizing the boardroom—The effects of foreign directors on corporate governance and firm performance," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 527-554.
    12. James J. Heckman & Hidehiko Ichimura & Petra E. Todd, 1997. "Matching As An Econometric Evaluation Estimator: Evidence from Evaluating a Job Training Programme," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 64(4), pages 605-654.
    13. Cesare Fracassi & Geoffrey Tate, 2012. "External Networking and Internal Firm Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(1), pages 153-194, February.
    14. Raymond Fisman & Edward Miguel, 2007. "Corruption, Norms, and Legal Enforcement: Evidence from Diplomatic Parking Tickets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 115(6), pages 1020-1048, December.
    15. Li, Feng & Srinivasan, Suraj, 2011. "Corporate governance when founders are directors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(2), pages 454-469.
    16. Hainmueller, Jens, 2012. "Entropy Balancing for Causal Effects: A Multivariate Reweighting Method to Produce Balanced Samples in Observational Studies," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 25-46, January.
    17. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2014_003 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Oliver Hart & John Moore, 1998. "Default and Renegotiation: A Dynamic Model of Debt," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(1), pages 1-41.
    19. Tobias Berg & Anthony Saunders & Sascha Steffen, 2016. "The Total Cost of Corporate Borrowing in the Loan Market: Don't Ignore the Fees," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(3), pages 1357-1392, June.
    20. Rüdiger Fahlenbrach & Angie Low & René M. Stulz, 2017. "Do Independent Director Departures Predict Future Bad Events?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(7), pages 2313-2358.
    21. Hallak, Issam, 2013. "Private sector share of external debt and financial stability: Evidence from bank loans," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 17-41.
    22. Guiso, Luigi & Sapienza, Paola & Zingales, Luigi, 2015. "The value of corporate culture," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 60-76.
    23. Beneish, Messod D. & Marshall, Cassandra D. & Yang, Jun, 2017. "Explaining CEO retention in misreporting firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 512-535.
    24. Yu, Frank & Yu, Xiaoyun, 2011. "Corporate Lobbying and Fraud Detection," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(6), pages 1865-1891, December.
    25. Eliezer M. Fich & Anil Shivdasani, 2006. "Are Busy Boards Effective Monitors?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(2), pages 689-724, April.
    26. 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.
    27. Liu, Xiaoding, 2016. "Corruption culture and corporate misconduct," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 307-327.
    28. Balsmeier, Benjamin & Fleming, Lee & Manso, Gustavo, 2017. "Independent boards and innovation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 536-557.
    29. Hong, Harrison & Kostovetsky, Leonard, 2012. "Red and blue investing: Values and finance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(1), pages 1-19.
    30. Svetlana Orlova & Ramesh Rao & Tony Kang, 2017. "National Culture and the Valuation of Cash Holdings," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(1-2), pages 236-270, January.
    31. Laeven, Luc & Levine, Ross, 2009. "Bank governance, regulation and risk taking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(2), pages 259-275, August.
    32. Allen N. Berger & Timothy H. Hannan, 1998. "The Efficiency Cost Of Market Power In The Banking Industry: A Test Of The "Quiet Life" And Related Hypotheses," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(3), pages 454-465, August.
    33. Andreas Hoepner & Ioannis Oikonomou & Bert Scholtens & Michael Schröder, 2016. "The Effects of Corporate and Country Sustainability Characteristics on The Cost of Debt: An International Investigation," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1-2), pages 158-190, January.
    34. Hoechle, Daniel & Schmid, Markus & Walter, Ingo & Yermack, David, 2012. "How much of the diversification discount can be explained by poor corporate governance?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(1), pages 41-60.
    35. Hainmueller, Jens & Xu, Yiqing, 2013. "ebalance: A Stata Package for Entropy Balancing," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 54(i07).
    36. Kim, E. Han & Lu, Yao, 2011. "CEO ownership, external governance, and risk-taking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(2), pages 272-292.
    37. Griliches, Zvi & Hausman, Jerry A., 1986. "Errors in variables in panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 93-118, February.
    38. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2006. "Does Culture Affect Economic Outcomes?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 23-48, Spring.
    39. Beck, Thorsten & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Levine, Ross, 2006. "Bank supervision and corruption in lending," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(8), pages 2131-2163, November.
    40. Lixiong Guo & Patrick Lach & Shawn Mobbs, 2015. "Tradeoffs between Internal and External Governance: Evidence from Exogenous Regulatory Shocks," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 44(1), pages 81-114, March.
    41. Renée B. Adams & Daniel Ferreira, 2007. "A Theory of Friendly Boards," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(1), pages 217-250, February.
    42. Amir Sufi, 2009. "Bank Lines of Credit in Corporate Finance: An Empirical Analysis," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(3), pages 1057-1088, March.
    43. David J. Denis & Diane K. Denis & Mark D. Walker, 2015. "CEO Assessment and the Structure of Newly Formed Boards," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(12), pages 3338-3366.
    44. repec:cup:jfinqa:v:46:y:2011:i:06:p:1865-1891_00 is not listed on IDEAS
    45. Kim, Kyonghee & Mauldin, Elaine & Patro, Sukesh, 2014. "Outside directors and board advising and monitoring performance," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 110-131.
    46. Mironov, Maxim, 2015. "Should one hire a corrupt CEO in a corrupt country?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 29-42.
    47. Chen, Huafeng Jason & Kacperczyk, Marcin & Ortiz-Molina, Hernán, 2011. "Labor Unions, Operating Flexibility, and the Cost of Equity," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(1), pages 25-58, February.
    48. Amir Sufi, 2009. "Bank Lines of Credit in Corporate Finance: An Empirical Analysis," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(3), pages 1057-1088.
    49. Francis, Johanna L. & Aykut, Dilek & Tereanu, Eugen, 2014. "The cost of private debt over the credit cycle," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 146-181.
    50. Ahern, Kenneth R. & Daminelli, Daniele & Fracassi, Cesare, 2015. "Lost in translation? The effect of cultural values on mergers around the world," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 165-189.
    51. Hasan, Iftekhar & Wu, Qiang & Zhang, Hao & Hoi, Chun-Keung (Stan), 2014. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: The effect of corporate tax avoidance on the cost of bank loans," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 3/2014, Bank of Finland.
    52. Joohyung Ha, 2021. "Bank accounting conservatism and bank loan quality," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3-4), pages 498-532, March.
    53. Akins, Brian & Dou, Yiwei & Ng, Jeffrey, 2017. "Corruption in bank lending: The role of timely loan loss recognition," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 454-478.
    54. Carrizosa, Richard & Ryan, Stephen G., 2017. "Borrower private information covenants and loan contract monitoring," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 313-339.
    55. Alimov, Azizjon, 2019. "Intellectual property rights reform and the cost of corporate debt," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 195-211.
    56. Rajan, Raghuram & Winton, Andrew, 1995. "Covenants and Collateral as Incentives to Monitor," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(4), pages 1113-1146, September.
    57. DeBacker, Jason & Heim, Bradley T. & Tran, Anh, 2015. "Importing corruption culture from overseas: Evidence from corporate tax evasion in the United States," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 122-138.
    58. Hasan, Iftekhar & Hoi, Chun Keung & Wu, Qiang & Zhang, Hao, 2017. "Social Capital and Debt Contracting: Evidence from Bank Loans and Public Bonds," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(3), pages 1017-1047, June.
    59. Adelino, Manuel & Dinc, I. Serdar, 2014. "Corporate distress and lobbying: Evidence from the Stimulus Act," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(2), pages 256-272.
    60. Hong, Harrison & Kacperczyk, Marcin, 2009. "The price of sin: The effects of social norms on markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 15-36, July.
    61. Suhee Kim & William Rees & Vathunyoo Sila, 2020. "Do anti‐bribery laws reduce the cost of equity? Evidence from the UK Bribery Act 2010," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3-4), pages 438-455, March.
    62. James J. Heckman & Hidehiko Ichimura & Petra Todd, 1998. "Matching As An Econometric Evaluation Estimator," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 65(2), pages 261-294.
    63. Joel F. Houston & Liangliang Jiang & Chen Lin & Yue Ma, 2014. "Political Connections and the Cost of Bank Loans," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(1), pages 193-243, March.
    64. Sreedhar T. Bharath & Tyler Shumway, 2008. "Forecasting Default with the Merton Distance to Default Model," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(3), pages 1339-1369, May.
    65. Stefan Zeume, 2017. "Bribes and Firm Value," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(5), pages 1457-1489.
    66. Barth, James R. & Lin, Chen & Lin, Ping & Song, Frank M., 2009. "Corruption in bank lending to firms: Cross-country micro evidence on the beneficial role of competition and information sharing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(3), pages 361-388, March.
    67. Rajgopal, Shivaram & Shevlin, Terry, 2002. "Empirical evidence on the relation between stock option compensation and risk taking," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 145-171, June.
    68. Masulis, Ronald W. & Mobbs, Shawn, 2014. "Independent director incentives: Where do talented directors spend their limited time and energy?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(2), pages 406-429.
    69. Alexander Borisov & Eitan Goldman & Nandini Gupta, 2016. "The Corporate Value of (Corrupt) Lobbying," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(4), pages 1039-1071.
    70. Sudheer Chava & Michael R. Roberts, 2008. "How Does Financing Impact Investment? The Role of Debt Covenants," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(5), pages 2085-2121, October.
    71. Hasan, Iftekhar & Hoi, Chun Keung (Stan) & Wu, Qiang & Zhang, Hao, 2014. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: The effect of corporate tax avoidance on the cost of bank loans," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(1), pages 109-130.
    72. Alexander W. Butler & Larry Fauver & Sandra Mortal, 2009. "Corruption, Political Connections, and Municipal Finance," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(7), pages 2673-2705, July.
    73. Biggerstaff, Lee & Cicero, David C. & Puckett, Andy, 2015. "Suspect CEOs, unethical culture, and corporate misbehavior," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 98-121.
    74. Greif, Avner, 1994. "Cultural Beliefs and the Organization of Society: A Historical and Theoretical Reflection on Collectivist and Individualist Societies," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(5), pages 912-950, October.
    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. Chia-Ying Chan & Iftekhar Hasan & Chih-Yung Lin, 2021. "Agency cost of CEO perquisites in bank loan contracts," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1221-1258, May.
    2. Lin, Chih-Yung & Tsai, Wei-Che & Hasan, Iftekhar & Tuan, Le Quoc, 2018. "Private benefits of control and bank loan contracts," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 324-343.
    3. Huang, Yin-Siang & Bui, Dien Giau & Lin, Chih-Yung & Robin,, 2022. "The effect of abnormal institutional attention on bank loans," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    4. Armstrong, Christopher S. & Guay, Wayne R. & Weber, Joseph P., 2010. "The role of information and financial reporting in corporate governance and debt contracting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 179-234, December.
    5. Bui, Dien Giau & Chen, Yan-Shing & Hasan, Iftekhar & Lin, Chih-Yung, 2018. "Can lenders discern managerial ability from luck? Evidence from bank loan contracts," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 187-201.
    6. Chen, Hsuan-Chi & Chou, Robin K. & Lin, Chih-Yung & Lu, Chien-Lin, 2022. "Bank loans during the 2008 quantitative easing," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    7. I-Ju Chen & Iftekhar Hasan & Chih-Yung Lin & Tra Ngoc Vy Nguyen, 2021. "Do Banks Value Borrowers' Environmental Record? Evidence from Financial Contracts," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(3), pages 687-713, December.
    8. Quentin Dupont & Jonathan M. Karpoff, 2020. "The Trust Triangle: Laws, Reputation, and Culture in Empirical Finance Research," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 217-238, May.
    9. Chen, Robin & Li, Shenru & Li, Wen & Mu, Yayu, 2024. "Friend with benefits: Evidence from director's corruption culture on mergers and acquisitions," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PA), pages 112-127.
    10. Jiang, Liangliang & Wang, Chong, 2024. "Lending corruption and bank loan contracting: Cross-Country evidence," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(2).
    11. Drobetz, Wolfgang & von Meyerinck, Felix & Oesch, David & Schmid, Markus, 2014. "Board Industry Experience, Firm Value, and Investment Behavior," Working Papers on Finance 1401, University of St. Gallen, School of Finance, revised Dec 2015.
    12. Rui-Xiang Zhai & Po-Hsin Ho & Chih-Yung Lin & Tran Thi Thuy Linh, 2023. "Bank CEO risk-taking incentives and bank lending quality," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 949-981, April.
    13. Shen, Yi, 2022. "Labor unemployment insurance and bank loans," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    14. Tang, Ning & Kamar, Amina & Lin, Chih-Yung & Lu, Chien-Lin, 2023. "Bank safety-oriented culture and lending decisions," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    15. Li, Guangzi & Chan, Kam C., 2021. "Anti-corruption intensity and loan contracting: Evidence from non-state owned firms in China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    16. Banerjee, Rajabrata & Gupta, Kartick & Krishnamurti, Chandrasekhar, 2022. "Does corrupt practice increase the implied cost of equity?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    17. Hao, Jie & Pham, Viet & Sánchez, Daniela & Sánchez, Juan Manuel, 2021. "Perceptions of corporate corruption culture and debt contracting," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    18. Lin, Chih-Yung & Chen, Yehning & Ho, Po-Hsin & Yen, Ju-Fang, 2020. "CEO overconfidence and bank loan contracting," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    19. Theodora Bermpei & Antonios Nikolaos Kalyvas & Leone Leonida, 2021. "Local Public Corruption and Bank Lending Activity in the United States," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(1), pages 73-98, June.
    20. Fang, Yiwei & Fiordelisi, Franco & Hasan, Iftekhar & Leung, Woon Sau & Wong, Gabriel, 2023. "Corporate culture and firm value: Evidence from crisis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).

    More about this item

    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:bla:jbfnac:v:49:y:2022:i:9-10:p:1929-1956. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0306-686X .

    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.