IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v141y2017i2d10.1007_s10551-015-2722-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Ethical Dimension of Management Ownership in China

Author

Listed:
  • Wei Li

    (Beijing International Studies University)

  • Yaping Wang

    (Peking University)

  • Liansheng Wu

    (Peking University)

  • Jason Zezhong Xiao

    (Cardiff University)

Abstract

Management ownership has ethical consequences because it has an interest alignment effect or an entrenchment effect. In this paper, we investigate the ethical consequences of management ownership in China using accounting conservatism as the direct measure of entrenchment and alignment between shareholders and managers. We argue and find that the ethical effect of management ownership differs significantly in firms with different ultimate controlling shareholders. Specifically, management ownership in non-state-owned enterprises (NSOEs) has an alignment effect, while management ownership has less of an alignment effect in state-owned enterprises than in NSOEs. These results show that the ethical consequences of management ownership are moderated by the nature of ultimate controlling ownership.

Suggested Citation

  • Wei Li & Yaping Wang & Liansheng Wu & Jason Zezhong Xiao, 2017. "The Ethical Dimension of Management Ownership in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 141(2), pages 381-392, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:141:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-015-2722-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-015-2722-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-015-2722-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-015-2722-1?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. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W., 1989. "Management entrenchment : The case of manager-specific investments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 123-139, November.
    2. Fan, Joseph P.H. & Wong, T.J. & Zhang, Tianyu, 2007. "Politically connected CEOs, corporate governance, and Post-IPO performance of China's newly partially privatized firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 330-357, May.
    3. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    4. Chung, Hyeesoo H. & Wynn, Jinyoung P., 2008. "Managerial legal liability coverage and earnings conservatism," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 135-153, September.
    5. McConnell, John J. & Servaes, Henri, 1990. "Additional evidence on equity ownership and corporate value," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 595-612, October.
    6. Hu, Yifan & Zhou, Xianming, 2008. "The performance effect of managerial ownership: Evidence from China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(10), pages 2099-2110, October.
    7. Akinobu Shuto & Tomomi Takada, 2010. "Managerial Ownership and Accounting Conservatism in Japan: A Test of Management Entrenchment Effect," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(7-8), pages 815-840.
    8. Stijn Claessens & Simeon Djankov & Joseph P. H. Fan & Larry H. P. Lang, 2002. "Disentangling the Incentive and Entrenchment Effects of Large Shareholdings," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(6), pages 2741-2771, December.
    9. Ryan Lafond & Sugata Roychowdhury, 2008. "Managerial Ownership and Accounting Conservatism," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 101-135, March.
    10. Holthausen, Robert W. & Watts, Ross L., 2001. "The relevance of the value-relevance literature for financial accounting standard setting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 3-75, September.
    11. Kato, Takao & Long, Cheryl, 2006. "CEO Turnover, Firm Performance and Enterprise Reform in China: Evidence from New Micro Data," IZA Discussion Papers 1914, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Holderness, Clifford G. & Sheehan, Dennis P., 1991. "Monitoring an owner*1: The case of Turner broadcasting," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 325-346, December.
    13. Fahlenbrach, Rüdiger & Stulz, René M., 2009. "Managerial ownership dynamics and firm value," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(3), pages 342-361, June.
    14. Clifford G. Holderness & Randall S. Kroszner & Dennis P. Sheehan, 1999. "Were the Good Old Days That Good? Changes in Managerial Stock Ownership Since the Great Depression," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(2), pages 435-469, April.
    15. Demsetz, Harold, 1983. "The Structure of Ownership and the Theory of the Firm," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 375-390, June.
    16. Benjamin E. Hermalin & Michael S. Weisbach, 1991. "The Effects of Board Composition and Direct Incentives on Firm Performance," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 20(4), Winter.
    17. Claessens, Stijn & Djankov, Simeon & Lang, Larry H. P., 2000. "The separation of ownership and control in East Asian Corporations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1-2), pages 81-112.
    18. Akinobu Shuto & Tomomi Takada, 2010. "Managerial Ownership and Accounting Conservatism in Japan: A Test of Management Entrenchment Effect," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(7‐8), pages 815-840, July.
    19. Himmelberg, Charles P. & Hubbard, R. Glenn & Palia, Darius, 1999. "Understanding the determinants of managerial ownership and the link between ownership and performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 353-384, September.
    20. Martin Conyon & Annita Florou, 2002. "Top executive dismissal, ownership and corporate performance," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(4), pages 209-225.
    21. 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.
    22. Morck, Randall & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W., 1988. "Management ownership and market valuation," Scholarly Articles 29407535, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    23. Ball, Ray & Shivakumar, Lakshmanan, 2005. "Earnings quality in UK private firms: comparative loss recognition timeliness," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 83-128, February.
    24. Mehran, Hamid, 1995. "Executive compensation structure, ownership, and firm performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 163-184, June.
    25. Chen, Gongmeng & Firth, Michael & Xin, Yu & Xu, Liping, 2008. "Control Transfers, Privatization, and Corporate Performance: Efficiency Gains in China's Listed Companies," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 43(1), pages 161-190, March.
    26. Ahmed, Anwer S. & Duellman, Scott, 2007. "Accounting conservatism and board of director characteristics: An empirical analysis," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2-3), pages 411-437, July.
    27. Ball, Ray & Kothari, S. P. & Robin, Ashok, 2000. "Corrigendum to "The effect of international institutional factors on properties of accounting earnings"; [Journal of Accounting and Economics 29 (2000) 1-51]," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 241-241, October.
    28. Anderson, Ronald C & Reeb, David M, 2003. "Founding-Family Ownership, Corporate Diversification, and Firm Leverage," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 46(2), pages 653-684, October.
    29. Wei, Zuobao & Xie, Feixue & Zhang, Shaorong, 2005. "Ownership Structure and Firm Value in China's Privatized Firms: 1991–2001," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 40(1), pages 87-108, March.
    30. Lin, Justin Yifu & Cai, Fang & Li, Zhou, 1998. "Competition, Policy Burdens, and State-Owned Enterprise Reform," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(2), pages 422-427, May.
    31. Ball, Ray & Kothari, S. P. & Robin, Ashok, 2000. "The effect of international institutional factors on properties of accounting earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-51, February.
    32. Morck, Randall & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W., 1988. "Management ownership and market valuation : An empirical analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 293-315, January.
    33. Basu, Sudipta, 1997. "The conservatism principle and the asymmetric timeliness of earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 3-37, December.
    34. M. Ameziane Lasfer, 2006. "The Interrelationship Between Managerial Ownership and Board Structure," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(7-8), pages 1006-1033.
    35. Kato, Takao & Long, Cheryl, 2006. "CEO turnover, firm performance, and enterprise reform in China: Evidence from micro data," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 796-817, December.
    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. Liu, Sun, 2019. "The impact of ownership structure on conditional and unconditional conservatism in China: Some new evidence," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 49-68.
    2. Ryan Lafond & Sugata Roychowdhury, 2008. "Managerial Ownership and Accounting Conservatism," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 101-135, March.
    3. Hsin-Yi Chi & Tzu-Ching Weng & Guang-Zheng Chen & Shu-Ping Chen, 2019. "Do Political Connections Affect the Conservative Financial Reporting of Family Firms?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-20, October.
    4. Jean-Christophe Duhamel & Réda Sefsaf, 2017. "Valeur de la gouvernance d'entreprise et gouvernance des valeurs de l'entreprise. Recherche sur les effets des codes de gouvernance et les stratégies de communication en matière de gouvernance," Working Papers halshs-01633982, HAL.
    5. Hu, Gang & Liu, Yiye & Wang, Jacqueline Wenjie & Zhou, Gaoguang & Zhu, Xindong, 2022. "Insider ownership and stock price crash risk around the globe," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    6. Taylan Mavruk & Conny Overland & Stefan Sjögren, 2020. "Keeping it real or keeping it simple? Ownership concentration measures compared," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 26(4), pages 958-1005, September.
    7. Attiya Y. Javid & Robina Iqbal, 2010. "Corporate Governance in Pakistan: Corporate Valuation, Ownership and Financing," PIDE-Working Papers 2010:57, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.
    8. Grosfeld, Irena, 2009. "Large shareholders and firm value: Are high-tech firms different?," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 259-277, September.
    9. San Martin-Reyna, J.M. & Duran-Encalada, Jorge A., 2012. "The relationship among family business, corporate governance and firm performance: Evidence from the Mexican stock exchange," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 106-117.
    10. Lionel Almeida, 2015. "Who are the controlling shareholders? Degree and seniority of control, and CEO pay monitoring," EconomiX Working Papers 2015-27, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.
    11. Georgeta Vintila & Stefan Cristian Gherghina, 2014. "Insider Ownership and the Value of the Bucharest Stock Exchange Listed Companies: Convergence-of-Interest or Entrenchment Effect?," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 4(1), pages 183-195.
    12. Bulan, Laarni & Sanyal, Paroma & Yan, Zhipeng, 2010. "A few bad apples: An analysis of CEO performance pay and firm productivity," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 62(4), pages 273-306, July.
    13. Aghdas Zargar & Zaleha Abdul Shukor, 2016. "The Role of Managerial Ownership in the Association between Goodwilland Firm Value," International Journal of Business and Economic Affairs (IJBEA), Sana N. Maswadeh, vol. 1(1), pages 47-59.
    14. Hussein Abedi Shamsabadi & Byung-Seong Min & Richard Chung, 2016. "Corporate governance and dividend strategy: lessons from Australia," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(5), pages 583-610, October.
    15. Katsuhiko Muramiya & Tomomi Takada, 2020. "How cross‐shareholding influences financial reporting: Evidence from Japan," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 309-326, September.
    16. James, Hui & Benson, Bradley W. & Wu, Chen (Ken), 2017. "Does CEO ownership affect payout policy? Evidence from using CEO scaled wealth-performance sensitivity," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 328-345.
    17. He, Yan & Chiu, Yung-ho & Zhang, Bin, 2015. "The impact of corporate governance on state-owned and non-state-owned firms efficiency in China," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 252-277.
    18. Khosa,Amrinder & Ahmed,Kamran & Henry,Darren, 2019. "Ownership Structure, Related Party Transactions, and Firm Valuation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108492195, September.
    19. Lukas Setia‐Atmaja & George A. Tanewski & Michael Skully, 2009. "The Role of Dividends, Debt and Board Structure in the Governance of Family Controlled Firms," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(7‐8), pages 863-898, September.
    20. Drobetz, Wolfgang & Janzen, Malte & Requejo, Ignacio, 2019. "Capital allocation and ownership concentration in the shipping industry," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 78-99.

    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:141:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-015-2722-1. 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.