IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/vikjou/v47y2022i1p19-37.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

CEO Overconfidence and Capital Structure Decisions: Evidence from India

Author

Listed:
  • Hardeep Singh Mundi
  • Parmjit Kaur

Abstract

Executive Summary Capital structure decisions are vital for firms. Existing theories on capital structure partially explain the difference in capital structure decisions of identical firms. Researchers have integrated psychology with finance in recent years to explain the difference in capital structure decisions better. To help practitioners and academicians understand the role of psychology in capital structure decisions, this article focuses on CEO overconfidence and its influence on equity versus debt financing, short-term versus long-term debt financing, and level of debt financing concerning tax shields. Indian CEOs are unique in their leadership style, values and beliefs. Overconfidence among CEOs of S&P BSE 200 firms is measured using the press coverage of CEOs, and this proxy depicts how the press portrays CEOs. An extensive search on CEOs in relevant search engines helped measure overconfidence among CEOs. The results from regression models document that overconfident CEOs prefer debt over equity and short-term debt over long-term debt. In addition, overconfident CEOs are found to not avail the full benefits of tax shield and follow a conservative debt policy. The presence of bias of overconfidence among CEOs distorts optimal decision-making and deviates capital structure decisions from trade-off theory and pecking order theory of capital structure. The evidence on external versus internal financing helps explain the biased preference of overconfident CEOs for debt and short-term financing. The biased beliefs lead CEOs to form high expectations of cash flows. Overconfidence among CEOs is found to significantly influence capital structure decisions. The robustness of the results corroborates existing findings and documents the influence of behavioural biases on corporate decision-making.

Suggested Citation

  • Hardeep Singh Mundi & Parmjit Kaur, 2022. "CEO Overconfidence and Capital Structure Decisions: Evidence from India," Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers, , vol. 47(1), pages 19-37, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:vikjou:v:47:y:2022:i:1:p:19-37
    DOI: 10.1177/02560909221079270
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/02560909221079270
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/02560909221079270?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. Isil Erel & Brandon Julio & Woojin Kim & Michael S. Weisbach, 2012. "Macroeconomic Conditions and Capital Raising," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(2), pages 341-376.
    2. Cronqvist, Henrik & Makhija, Anil K. & Yonker, Scott E., 2012. "Behavioral consistency in corporate finance: CEO personal and corporate leverage," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(1), pages 20-40.
    3. Ulrike Malmendier & Geoffrey Tate, 2005. "CEO Overconfidence and Corporate Investment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(6), pages 2661-2700, December.
    4. Hirshleifer, David & Thakor, Anjan V, 1992. "Managerial Conservatism, Project Choice, and Debt," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 5(3), pages 437-470.
    5. Sheng-Syan Chen & Keng-Yu Ho & Po-Hsin Ho, 2014. "CEO Overconfidence and Long-Term Performance Following R&D Increases," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 43(2), pages 245-269, June.
    6. Malmendier, Ulrike & Tate, Geoffrey, 2008. "Who makes acquisitions? CEO overconfidence and the market's reaction," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 20-43, July.
    7. David Hirshleifer, 2001. "Investor Psychology and Asset Pricing," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(4), pages 1533-1597, August.
    8. Jijun Niu, 2010. "The Effect of Overconfidence on the Sensitivity of CEO Wealth to Equity Risk," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 38(1), pages 23-39, August.
    9. Ulrike Malmendier & Geoffrey Tate, 2015. "Behavioral CEOs: The Role of Managerial Overconfidence," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(4), pages 37-60, Fall.
    10. Irene Wei Kiong Ting & Hooi Hooi Lean & Qian Long Kweh & Noor Azlinna Azizan, 2016. "Managerial overconfidence, government intervention and corporate financing decision," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(1), pages 4-24, February.
    11. Hersh Shefrin, 2001. "Behavioral Corporate Finance," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 14(3), pages 113-126, September.
    12. Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Puri, Manju, 2013. "Managerial attitudes and corporate actions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(1), pages 103-121.
    13. Brown, Rayna & Sarma, Neal, 2007. "CEO overconfidence, CEO dominance and corporate acquisitions," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 59(5), pages 358-379.
    14. Strebulaev, Ilya A. & Yang, Baozhong, 2013. "The mystery of zero-leverage firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(1), pages 1-23.
    15. Murray Z. Frank & Vidhan K. Goyal, 2009. "Capital Structure Decisions: Which Factors Are Reliably Important?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 38(1), pages 1-37, March.
    16. Deshmukh, Sanjay & Goel, Anand M. & Howe, Keith M., 2013. "CEO overconfidence and dividend policy," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 440-463.
    17. Ulrike Malmendier & Geoffrey Tate, 2005. "Does Overconfidence Affect Corporate Investment? CEO Overconfidence Measures Revisited," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 11(5), pages 649-659, November.
    18. J B Heaton, 2002. "Managerial Optimism and Corporate Finance," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 31(2), Summer.
    19. David Hirshleifer & Angie Low & Siew Hong Teoh, 2012. "Are Overconfident CEOs Better Innovators?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(4), pages 1457-1498, August.
    20. Baumann, Andrea O. & Deber, Raisa B. & Thompson, Gail G., 1991. "Overconfidence among physicians and nurses: The 'micro-certainty, macro-uncertainty' phenomenon," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 167-174, January.
    21. Hutton, Irena & Jiang, Danling & Kumar, Alok, 2014. "Corporate Policies of Republican Managers," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 49(5-6), pages 1279-1310, December.
    22. Brad M. Barber & Terrance Odean, 2001. "Boys will be Boys: Gender, Overconfidence, and Common Stock Investment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(1), pages 261-292.
    23. Paul Hribar & Holly Yang, 2016. "CEO Overconfidence and Management Forecasting," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(1), pages 204-227, March.
    24. Huang, Ronghong & Tan, Kelvin Jui Keng & Faff, Robert W., 2016. "CEO overconfidence and corporate debt maturity," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 93-110.
    25. Myers, Stewart C., 1977. "Determinants of corporate borrowing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 147-175, November.
    26. Ali Ataullah & Andrew Vivian & Bin Xu, 2018. "Time-varying managerial overconfidence and corporate debt maturity structure," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 157-181, January.
    27. Huang, Wei & Jiang, Fuxiu & Liu, Zhibiao & Zhang, Min, 2011. "Agency cost, top executives' overconfidence, and investment-cash flow sensitivity -- Evidence from listed companies in China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 261-277, June.
    28. John R. Graham, 2000. "How Big Are the Tax Benefits of Debt?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(5), pages 1901-1941, October.
    29. Friehe, Tim & Pannenberg, Markus, 2019. "Overconfidence over the lifespan: Evidence from Germany," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    30. Winifred Huang-Meier & Neophytos Lambertides & James M. Steeley, 2016. "Motives for corporate cash holdings: the CEO optimism effect," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 699-732, October.
    31. Dane M. Christensen & Dan S. Dhaliwal & Steven Boivie & Scott D. Graffin, 2015. "Top management conservatism and corporate risk strategies: Evidence from managers' personal political orientation and corporate tax avoidance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(12), pages 1918-1938, December.
    32. Ulrike Malmendier & Geoffrey Tate & Jon Yan, 2011. "Overconfidence and Early‐Life Experiences: The Effect of Managerial Traits on Corporate Financial Policies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(5), pages 1687-1733, October.
    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. Mundi, Hardeep Singh, 2022. "CEO social capital and capital structure complexity," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    2. R. L. N. Murthy & Hardeep Singh Mundi, 2023. "Stock Return Synchronicity and Profitability: Evidence from India," Paradigm, , vol. 27(1), pages 47-59, June.
    3. Gurdgiev, Constantin & Ni, Qiuxin, 2023. "Board diversity: Moderating effects of CEO overconfidence on firm financing decisions," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).

    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. Thi Tuyet Dao, Nhung & Guney, Yilmaz & Hudson, Robert, 2023. "Managerial overconfidence and corporate cash holdings: Evidence from primary and secondary data," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    2. Tobias Heizer & Laura R. Rettig, 2020. "Top management team optimism and its influence on firms' financing and investment decisions," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(4), pages 601-622, October.
    3. Jennifer Kunz & Lara Sonnenholzner, 2023. "Managerial overconfidence: promoter of or obstacle to organizational resilience?," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 67-128, January.
    4. Hardeep Singh Mundi, 2023. "Impact of CEO Overconfidence on Capital Structure Decisions: Evidence from S&P BSE 200," Vision, , vol. 27(1), pages 63-78, February.
    5. Ali Ataullah & Andrew Vivian & Bin Xu, 2018. "Optimistic Disclosure Tone and Conservative Debt Policy," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 54(4), pages 445-484, December.
    6. Maurizio Rocca & Neha Neha & Tiziana Rocca, 2020. "Female management, overconfidence and debt maturity: European evidence," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 24(3), pages 713-747, September.
    7. Wu, Meng-Wen & Xu, Li & Shen, Chung-hua & Zhang, Ke-Kun, 2021. "Overconfident CEOs and shadow banking in China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    8. Danso, Albert & Lartey, Theophilus & Amankwah-Amoah, Joseph & Adomako, Samuel & Lu, Qinye & Uddin, Moshfique, 2019. "Market sentiment and firm investment decision-making," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    9. Bharati, Rakesh & Doellman, Thomas & Fu, Xudong, 2016. "CEO confidence and stock returns," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 89-110.
    10. Bilgehan TEKİN, 2019. "The Factors Affecting Capital Structure: A Panel Data Analysis in the Context of Behavioural Corporate Finance," Sosyoekonomi Journal, Sosyoekonomi Society, issue 27(42).
    11. Deshmukh, Sanjay & Goel, Anand M. & Howe, Keith M., 2021. "Do CEO beliefs affect corporate cash holdings?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    12. Lai, Shaojie & Li, Xiaorong & Chan, Kam C., 2021. "CEO overconfidence and labor investment efficiency," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    13. Adnan Safi & Xianrong Yi & Salman Wahab & Yingying Chen & Hassan Hassan, 2021. "CEO overconfidence, firm-specific factors, and systemic risk: evidence from China," Risk Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(1), pages 30-47, June.
    14. Lee, Jin-Ping & Lin, Edward M.H. & Lin, James Juichia & Zhao, Yang, 2020. "Bank systemic risk and CEO overconfidence," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    15. Li, Si & Perez, M. Fabricio, 2021. "The evolution of pay premiums for managerial attributes," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    16. Le, Anh-Tuan & Doan, Anh-Tuan & Lin, Kun-Li, 2024. "CEO overconfidence and the informativeness of bank stock prices," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    17. Ulrike Malmendier & Vincenzo Pezone & Hui Zheng, 2023. "Managerial Duties and Managerial Biases," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(6), pages 3174-3201, June.
    18. Weifeng Xu & Qingsong Ruan & Chang Liu, 2019. "Can the Famous University Experience of Top Managers Improve Corporate Performance? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-20, December.
    19. Huang, Ying Sophie & Li, Mengyu, 2019. "Are overconfident executives alike? overconfident executives and compensation structure: Evidence from China," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 434-449.
    20. Marius Guenzel & Ulrike Malmendier, 2020. "Behavioral Corporate Finance: The Life Cycle of a CEO Career," NBER Working Papers 27635, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    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:sae:vikjou:v:47:y:2022:i:1:p:19-37. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.