IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v114y2013i4p655-664.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Individualism–Collectivism, Private Benefits of Control, and Earnings Management: A Cross-Culture Comparison

Author

Listed:
  • Xu Zhang
  • Xing Liang
  • Hongyan Sun

Abstract

Using private benefits of control and earnings management data from 41 countries and regions, we provide strong evidence that cultures, together with legal rules and law enforcement, play a critical role in shaping corporate behavior. More specifically, we find that private benefits of control are larger and earnings management is more severe in collectivist as opposed to individualist cultures, consistent with the argument that agency problems between corporate insiders and outside investors are severe in collectivist culture. These results are robust to the inclusion of controls for country wealth, economic heterogeneity across countries, and international differences in ownership concentration. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Xu Zhang & Xing Liang & Hongyan Sun, 2013. "Individualism–Collectivism, Private Benefits of Control, and Earnings Management: A Cross-Culture Comparison," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 114(4), pages 655-664, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:114:y:2013:i:4:p:655-664
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-013-1711-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10551-013-1711-5
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-013-1711-5?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. H Kevin Steensma & Louis Marino & K Mark Weaver, 2000. "Attitudes Toward Cooperative Strategies: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Entrepreneurs," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 31(4), pages 591-609, December.
    2. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    3. Stulz, Rene M. & Williamson, Rohan, 2003. "Culture, openness, and finance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 313-349, December.
    4. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:2:p:537-600 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Licht, Amir N. & Goldschmidt, Chanan & Schwartz, Shalom H., 2007. "Culture rules: The foundations of the rule of law and other norms of governance," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 659-688, December.
    6. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December.
    7. Djankov, Simeon & La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei, 2008. "The law and economics of self-dealing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 430-465, June.
    8. Hwang, Byoung-Hyoun & Kim, Seoyoung, 2009. "It pays to have friends," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 138-158, July.
    9. Licht, Amir N. & Goldschmidt, Chanan & Schwartz, Shalom H., 2005. "Culture, Law, and Corporate Governance," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 229-255, June.
    10. Chuck C Y Kwok & Solomon Tadesse, 2006. "National culture and financial systems," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 37(2), pages 227-247, March.
    11. Leuz, Christian & Nanda, Dhananjay & Wysocki, Peter D., 2003. "Earnings management and investor protection: an international comparison," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 505-527, September.
    12. In‐Mu Haw & Bingbing Hu & Lee‐Seok Hwang & Woody Wu, 2004. "Ultimate Ownership, Income Management, and Legal and Extra‐Legal Institutions," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 423-462, May.
    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. José Ignacio Jarne-Jarne & Susana Callao-Gastón & Miguel Marco-Fondevila & Fernando Llena-Macarulla, 2022. "The Impact of Organizational Culture on the Effectiveness of Corporate Governance to Control Earnings Management," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-19, August.
    2. Osei-Tutu, Francis & Weill, Laurent, 2023. "Individualism reduces borrower discouragement," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 370-385.
    3. Pascal Gantenbein & Axel Kind & Christophe Volonté, 2019. "Individualism and Venture Capital: A Cross-Country Study," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 59(5), pages 741-777, October.
    4. Brahmana, Rayenda Khresna & You, Hui Wei, 2022. "Do Muslim CEOs and Muslim stakeholders prefer Islamic debt financing?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    5. Muhammad Rofiqul Islam & Abdullah Al Mehdi, 2024. "Impacts of National Cultures on Managerial Decisions of Engaging in Core Earnings Management," Papers 2407.16854, arXiv.org.
    6. Sun, Hongyan & Yuen, Desmond C.Y. & Zhang, Jiahang & Zhang, Xu, 2020. "Is knowledge powerful? Evidence from financial education and earnings quality," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    7. Chunhui Zheng & Jia Zhang & Lili Qian & Yuling Zhang, 2022. "Risk, Obligation, and Public Noncompliance with Mobility Directives in China during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-20, September.
    8. Alshehabi, Ahmad & Georgiou, George & Ala, Alessandro S., 2021. "Country-specific drivers of the value relevance of goodwill impairment losses," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    9. Yasemin Zengin Karaibrahimoglu & Burcu Guneri Cangarli, 2016. "Do Auditing and Reporting Standards Affect Firms’ Ethical Behaviours? The Moderating Role of National Culture," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(1), pages 55-75, November.
    10. Halabi, Hussein & Alshehabi, Ahmad & Zakaria, Idlan, 2019. "Informal institutions and managers’ earnings management choices: Evidence from IFRS-adopting countries," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(3).
    11. Alessandro Germani & Livia Buratta & Elisa Delvecchio & Claudia Mazzeschi, 2020. "Emerging Adults and COVID-19: The Role of Individualism-Collectivism on Perceived Risks and Psychological Maladjustment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-15, May.
    12. Kiridaran Kanagaretnam & Abdul-Rahman Khokhar & Amin Mawani, 2018. "Linking Societal Trust and CEO Compensation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(2), pages 295-317, August.
    13. Katelin Barron; Shih Yung Chou, 2016. "Developing Normative Commitment as a Consequence of Receiving Help - The Moderated Mediating Roles of Team-Member Exchange and Individualism/Collectivism: A Multi-level Model," Journal of Management Sciences, Geist Science, Iqra University, Faculty of Business Administration, vol. 3(2), pages 141-158, October.
    14. Idrees Liaqat & Yongqiang Gao & Faheem Ur Rehman & Zoltán Lakner & Judit Oláh, 2022. "National Culture and Financial Inclusion: Evidence from Belt and Road Economies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-21, March.
    15. Yi-Shu Wang & Jing Yang & Zhen-Jia Liu, 2017. "Meeting Dividend Thresholds through Earnings Management: A Cross-cultural Comparison," Applied Economics and Finance, Redfame publishing, vol. 4(3), pages 1-13, May.
    16. Choi, Ahrum & Jia, Jingyi & Song, Byron Y. & Zhou, Gaoguang, 2024. "Cultural tightness and financial reporting behavior around the world," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    17. Debora Gottardello & Maria del Mar Pàmies, 2019. "Business School Professors’ Perception of Ethics in Education in Europe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-19, January.

    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. Chan Lyu & Desmond Chun Yip Yuen & Xu Zhang, 2017. "Individualist-collectivist culture, ownership concentration and earnings quality," Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting & Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1-2), pages 23-42, April.
    2. Matoussi, Hamadi & Jardak, Maha Khemakhem, 2012. "International Corporate Governance and Finance: Legal, Cultural and Political Explanations," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 1-43.
    3. Cieslewicz, Joshua K., 2014. "Relationships between national economic culture, institutions, and accounting: Implications for IFRS," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 511-528.
    4. Almaskati, Nawaf & Bird, Ron & Lu, Yue, 2020. "Corporate governance, institutions, markets, and social factors," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    5. Li, Kai & Griffin, Dale & Yue, Heng & Zhao, Longkai, 2013. "How does culture influence corporate risk-taking?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 1-22.
    6. Dale Griffin & Omrane Guedhami & Chuck C Y Kwok & Kai Li & Liang Shao, 2017. "National culture: The missing country-level determinant of corporate governance," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(6), pages 740-762, August.
    7. Cline, Brandon N. & Williamson, Claudia R., 2016. "Trust and the regulation of corporate self-dealing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 572-590.
    8. Frijns, Bart & Gilbert, Aaron & Lehnert, Thorsten & Tourani-Rad, Alireza, 2013. "Uncertainty avoidance, risk tolerance and corporate takeover decisions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(7), pages 2457-2471.
    9. Cumming, Douglas & Knill, April & Richardson, Nela, 2015. "Firm size and the impact of securities regulation," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 417-442.
    10. Lewellyn, Krista B. & Bao, Shuji ‘Rosey’, 2014. "A cross-national investigation of IPO activity: The role of formal institutions and national culture," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 1167-1178.
    11. Haw, In-Mu & Ho, Simon S.M. & Hu, Bingbing & Zhang, Xu, 2013. "Legal Institutions, Ownership Concentration, and Stock Repurchases Around the World: Signal Mimicking?," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 427-458.
    12. Fidrmuc, Jana P. & Jacob, Marcus, 2010. "Culture, agency costs, and dividends," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 321-339, September.
    13. Buchen, Clemens, 2010. "Emerging economic systems in Central and Eastern Europe – a qualitative and quantitative assessment," EconStor Theses, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 37141, September.
    14. Andrei Shleifer & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Rafael La Porta, 2008. "The Economic Consequences of Legal Origins," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 46(2), pages 285-332, June.
    15. Ferris, Stephen P. & Jayaraman, Narayanan & Liao, Min-Yu (Stella), 2020. "Better directors or distracted directors? An international analysis of busy boards," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    16. Shen, Zhe & Sowahfio Sowah, Joseph & Li, Shan, 2022. "Societal trust and corporate risk-taking: International evidence," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    17. Ashraf, Badar Nadeem & Zheng, Changjun & Arshad, Sidra, 2016. "Effects of national culture on bank risk-taking behavior," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 309-326.
    18. Shirley J. Daniel & Joshua K. Cieslewicz & Hamid Pourjalali, 2012. "The Impact of National Economic Culture and Country-Level Institutional Environment on Corporate Governance Practices," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 52(3), pages 365-394, June.
    19. Pascal Gantenbein & Axel Kind & Christophe Volonté, 2019. "Individualism and Venture Capital: A Cross-Country Study," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 59(5), pages 741-777, October.
    20. Li, Ting & Zaiats, Nataliya, 2017. "Information environment and earnings management of dual class firms around the world," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1-23.

    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:jbuset:v:114:y:2013:i:4:p:655-664. 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://www.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.