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The Cultural Origin of CEOs’ Attitudes toward Uncertainty: Evidence from Corporate Acquisitions

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  • Yihui Pan
  • Stephan Siegel
  • Tracy Yue Wang

Abstract

We examine the role of cultural heritage in shaping U.S. CEOs’ attitudes toward uncertainty, in the context of their corporate acquisition decisions. We find that CEOs with a more uncertainty-avoiding cultural heritage are less likely to engage in acquisitions. Conditional on making an acquisition, uncertainty-averse CEOs prefer targets in familiar industries and targets that can be more easily integrated. The emphasis on cultural identity by CEOs’ parents and the ethnic composition of CEOs’ early life environment significantly influence the cultural transmission process. Cultural differences about uncertainty attitudes persist over multiple generations, but become less pronounced over time. (JEL G34, G4, G40, G41)

Suggested Citation

  • Yihui Pan & Stephan Siegel & Tracy Yue Wang, 2020. "The Cultural Origin of CEOs’ Attitudes toward Uncertainty: Evidence from Corporate Acquisitions," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(7), pages 2977-3030.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rfinst:v:33:y:2020:i:7:p:2977-3030.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jens Hagendorff & Sonya Lim & Duc Duy Nguyen, 2023. "Lender Trust and Bank Loan Contracts," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(3), pages 1758-1779, March.
    2. Du, Yao & Chan, Chia-Ying & Lin, Chih-Yung & Lu, Chien-Lin, 2023. "Charitable CEOs and employee protection," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    3. Olga Dodd & Bowen Zheng, 2022. "Does Board Cultural Diversity Contributed by Foreign Directors Improve Firm Performance? Evidence from Australia," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-23, July.
    4. Delis, Manthos D. & Dioikitopoulos, Evangelos V. & Ongena, Steven, 2023. "Population diversity and financial risk-taking," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    5. Huang, Liangxiong & Ma, Minghui & Wang, Xianbin, 2022. "Clan culture and risk-taking of Chinese enterprises," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    6. Bermpei, Theodora & Degl’Innocenti, Marta & Kalyvas, Antonios Nikolaos & Zhou, Si, 2023. "Lender individualism and monitoring: Evidence from syndicated loans," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    7. Hou, Fei & Shen, Huayu & Wang, Ping & Xiong, Hao, 2023. "Signing auditors' cultural background and debt financing costs," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    8. Liu, Haiming & Liang, Quanxi & Ling, Leng, 2022. "Underrepresentation of female CEOs in China: The role of culture, market forces, and foreign experience of directors," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    9. Cao, Chunfang & Li, Xiaohui & Li, Xiaoyang & Zeng, Cheng & Zhou, Xuan, 2021. "Diversity and inclusion: Evidence from corporate inventors," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 295-316.
    10. Frijns, Bart & Garel, Alexandre, 2021. "The effect of cultural distance between an analyst and a CEO on analysts’ earnings forecast performance," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    11. Frijns, Bart & Hubers, Frank & Kim, Donghoon & Roh, Tai-Yong & Xu, Yahua, 2022. "National culture and corporate risk-taking around the world," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    12. Zhao, Hong, 2022. "Management team cultural alignment and mergers and acquisitions," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PB).
    13. Zhou, Yuanyuan & Liu, Peng & Teng, Min & Wang, Zhen, 2023. "Back to roots: TMTs’ country-specific experience, FDI preference, and political center favoritism," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(4).
    14. Florio, Erminia & Manfredonia, Stefano, 2021. "Ancestors, inter-generational transmission of attitudes, and corporate performance: Evidence from the Italian Mass Migration," GLO Discussion Paper Series 830, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    15. Shao, Ran & Wang, Na, 2021. "Trust and local bias of individual investors," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    16. Gao, Xin & Xu, Weidong & Li, Donghui & Xing, Lu, 2021. "Media coverage and investment efficiency," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 270-293.
    17. Kong, Gaowen & Xu, Li & Zhang, Wenzhe, 2022. "The benevolence of the billionaires: Evidence from China's Hurun rich list1," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • G4 - Financial Economics - - Behavioral Finance
    • G40 - Financial Economics - - Behavioral Finance - - - General
    • G41 - Financial Economics - - Behavioral Finance - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making in Financial Markets

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