IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jrisks/v11y2023i6p102-d1161432.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Relationship between Capital Structure and Firm Performance: The Moderating Role of Agency Cost

Author

Listed:
  • Amanj Mohamed Ahmed

    (Doctoral School of Economics & Regional Sciences, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Science, 2100 Gödöllő, Hungary
    Darbandikhan Technical Institute, Sulaimani Polytechnic University, Sulaimaniyah 70-236, Iraq)

  • Deni Pandu Nugraha

    (Doctoral School of Economics & Regional Sciences, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Science, 2100 Gödöllő, Hungary
    Management Department, Faculty of Economic and Business, Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, Banten 15412, Indonesia)

  • István Hágen

    (Doctoral School of Economics & Regional Sciences, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Science, 2100 Gödöllő, Hungary)

Abstract

Since it first appeared, agency theory has argued that debt can decrease agency issues between agent and principal and enhance the value of firms. This paper explores the moderating effect of agency cost on the association between capital structure and firm performance. A panel econometric method, namely a fixed-effect regression model, was used to evaluate the above description. This investigation uses secondary data collected from published annual reports of manufacturing firms listed on Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) during 2011–2019. Empirical results show that capital structure is negatively related to firm performance. Agency cost also has a negative impact on corporate performance; however, in the case of ROA and EPS, the relationship is positive. Interestingly, the findings illustrate that increasing the level of debt can reduce agency costs and enhance firm performance. Moreover, robust correlations are revealing that agency cost significantly affects the relationship between capital structure and corporate performance. These findings provide proof to support the assumptions of agency theory, which explains the association between capital structure and performance of firms. This study provides new perspectives on the relationship between capital structure and firm performance by using data from listed manufacturing firms in Iran; hence, these new insights from a developing market improve the understanding of capital structure in Asian and Middle Eastern markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Amanj Mohamed Ahmed & Deni Pandu Nugraha & István Hágen, 2023. "The Relationship between Capital Structure and Firm Performance: The Moderating Role of Agency Cost," Risks, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-17, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jrisks:v:11:y:2023:i:6:p:102-:d:1161432
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9091/11/6/102/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9091/11/6/102/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sheng Xiao & Shan Zhao, 2014. "How do agency problems affect firm value? - Evidence from China," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(7-9), pages 803-828, September.
    2. Muhammad Ahmad & Rabia Bashir & Hamid Waqas, 2022. "Working capital management and firm performance: are their effects same in covid 19 compared to financial crisis 2008?," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 2101224-210, December.
    3. Bakr Al-Gamrh & Ku Nor Izah Ku Ismail & Tanveer Ahsan & Abdulsalam Alquhaif, 2020. "Investment opportunities, corporate governance quality, and firm performance in the UAE," Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 10(2), pages 261-276, May.
    4. Lama Tarek Al-Kayed & Sharifah Raihan Syed Mohd Zain & Jarita Duasa, 2014. "The relationship between capital structure and performance of Islamic banks," Journal of Islamic Accounting and Business Research, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 5(2), pages 158-181, September.
    5. 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.
    6. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicholas S., 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 187-221, June.
    7. Bakr Al-Gamrh & Ku Nor Izah Ku Ismail & Tanveer Ahsan & Abdulsalam Alquhaif, 2020. "Investment opportunities, corporate governance quality, and firm performance in the UAE," Post-Print hal-02956352, HAL.
    8. Laurence Booth & Varouj Aivazian & Asli Demirguc‐Kunt & Vojislav Maksimovic, 2001. "Capital Structures in Developing Countries," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(1), pages 87-130, February.
    9. Joshua Abor, 2007. "Debt policy and performance of SMEs: Evidence from Ghanaian and South African firms," Journal of Risk Finance, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 8(4), pages 364-379, August.
    10. Myers, Stewart C., 1984. "Capital structure puzzle," Working papers 1548-84., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    11. Myers, Stewart C, 1984. "The Capital Structure Puzzle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(3), pages 575-592, July.
    12. Stewart C. Myers, 1984. "Capital Structure Puzzle," NBER Working Papers 1393, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Stewart C. Myers & Nicholas S. Majluf, 1984. "Corporate Financing and Investment Decisions When Firms Have InformationThat Investors Do Not Have," NBER Working Papers 1396, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Bae, John & Kim, Sang-Joon & Oh, Hannah, 2017. "Taming polysemous signals: The role of marketing intensity on the relationship between financial leverage and firm performance," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 29-40.
    15. 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.
    16. Myers, Stewart C., 1977. "Determinants of corporate borrowing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 147-175, November.
    17. Kraus, Alan & Litzenberger, Robert H, 1973. "A State-Preference Model of Optimal Financial Leverage," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 28(4), pages 911-922, September.
    18. Jianxin (Daniel) Chi, 2005. "Understanding the Endogeneity Between Firm Value and Shareholder Rights," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 34(4), Winter.
    19. Krishna Dayal Pandey & Tarak Nath Sahu, 2019. "Debt Financing, Agency Cost and Firm Performance: Evidence from India," Vision, , vol. 23(3), pages 267-274, September.
    20. Zemenu Amare Ayalew & David McMillan, 2021. "Capital structure and profitability: Panel data evidence of private banks in Ethiopia," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 1953736-195, January.
    21. Yoshikawa, Toru & Phan, Phillip H., 2003. "The Performance Implications of Ownership-driven Governance Reform," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 698-706, December.
    22. Jing Xiao, 2007. "From the editor," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 1-2, 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. Teodora Tica & Bojan Matkovski & Danilo Đokić & Žana Jurjević, 2023. "Characteristics of the Supply Chain of Tobacco and Tobacco Products: Evidence from Serbia," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-23, August.
    2. Aleksandra Stoiljković & Slavica Tomić & Bojan Leković & Ozren Uzelac & Nikola V. Ćurčić, 2024. "The Impact of Capital Structure on the Performance of Serbian Manufacturing Companies: Application of Agency Cost Theory," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-25, January.
    3. Amanj Mohamed Ahmed & Nabard Abdallah Sharif & Muhammad Nawzad Ali & István Hágen, 2023. "Effect of Firm Size on the Association between Capital Structure and Profitability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-17, July.
    4. M N, Nikhil & S Shenoy, Sandeep & Chakraborty, Suman & B M, Lithin, 2023. "Is the Nexus Between Capital Structure and Firm Performance Asymmetric? An Emerging Market Perspective," MPRA Paper 119669, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 17 Nov 2023.
    5. Imani Mokhtar & Ismah Osman & Fatimah Setapa & Nur Afizah Muhamad Arifin & Roslina Mohamad Shafi & Ruhaini Muda, 2023. "Capital Structure–Firm Performance Nexus: The Moderating Effect of Board Independence," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 15(4), pages 38-47.

    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. Rana El Bahsh & Ali Alattar & Aziz N. Yusuf, 2018. "Firm, Industry and Country Level Determinants of Capital Structure: Evidence from Jordan," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 8(2), pages 175-190.
    2. Antonczyk, Ron Christian & Salzmann, Astrid Juliane, 2014. "Overconfidence and optimism: The effect of national culture on capital structure," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 132-151.
    3. Alves, Paulo & Francisco, Paulo, 2015. "The impact of institutional environment on the capital structure of firms during recent financial crises," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 129-146.
    4. Zhang, Dongyang & Liu, Deqiang, 2017. "Determinants of the capital structure of Chinese non-listed enterprises: Is TFP efficient?," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 179-202.
    5. Kanwal Iqbal Khan & Faisal Qadeer & Mário Nuno Mata & José Chavaglia Neto & Qurat ul An Sabir & Jéssica Nunes Martins & José António Filipe, 2021. "Core Predictors of Debt Specialization: A New Insight to Optimal Capital Structure," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-25, April.
    6. Mai, Nhat Chi, 2012. "Market timing, taxes and capital structure: evidence from Vietnam," OSF Preprints t3mvs, Center for Open Science.
    7. Faisal Seraj Alnori & Ali Mohsen Shaddady, 2019. "Corporate Debt Choice and Board Size: The Case of Oil Exporting Economy," Journal of Applied Finance & Banking, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 9(5), pages 1-6.
    8. Temimi, Akram & Zeitun, Rami & Mimouni, Karim, 2016. "How does the tax status of a country impact capital structure? Evidence from the GCC region," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 37, pages 71-89.
    9. Bashar K. Abu Khalaf, 2017. "Empirical Investigation of Symmetric and Asymmetric Target Adjustment Models: Capital Structure of Non-Financial Firms in Jordan," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 9(3), pages 133-140, March.
    10. Yildirim, Ramazan & Masih, Mansur & Bacha, Obiyathulla Ismath, 2018. "Determinants of capital structure: evidence from Shari'ah compliant and non-compliant firms," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 198-219.
    11. Valeriya Valer’evna Metel’skaya, 2021. "Correlation-and-regression analysis of the influence of macroeconomic factors on capital structure of Russian corporations under crisis conditions," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-34, December.
    12. Luís Gomes & Cláudia Pereira & Mário Coelho, 2023. "Determinants of Indebtedness in Expanding Portuguese Hotels," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-15, May.
    13. Shehu Usman Hassan Author_Email: Shehu.Hassanus.usman@gmail.com, 2011. "Determinants Of Capital Structure In The Nigerian Listed Insurance Firms," International Conference on Management (ICM 2011) Proceeding 2011-054-160, Conference Master Resources.
    14. Khémiri, Wafa & Noubbigh, Hédi, 2020. "Size-threshold effect in debt-firm performance nexus in the sub-Saharan region: A Panel Smooth Transition Regression approach," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 335-344.
    15. Kim, Sang-Joon & Bae, John & Oh, Hannah, 2019. "Financing strategically: The moderation effect of marketing activities on the bifurcated relationship between debt level and firm valuation of small and medium enterprises," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 663-681.
    16. 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.
    17. Lindner, Thomas & Muellner, Jakob & Puck, Jonas, 2016. "Cost of Capital in an International Context: Institutional Distance, Quality, and Dynamics," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 234-248.
    18. Muhammad Yusuf Amin & Amanat Ali & Bashir Khan, 2019. "Capital Structure of Chinese Firms Across different Sectors: Does Ownership Structure Matter?," Global Economics Review, Humanity Only, vol. 4(2), pages 70-82, June.
    19. Fattouh, Bassam & Scaramozzino, Pasquale & Harris, Laurence, 2005. "Capital structure in South Korea: a quantile regression approach," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 231-250, February.
    20. An, Zhe & Li, Donghui & Yu, Jin, 2016. "Earnings management, capital structure, and the role of institutional environments," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 131-152.

    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:gam:jrisks:v:11:y:2023:i:6:p:102-:d:1161432. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.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.