IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/csc/cerisp/201106.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Agency Issues in a Family Controlled Corporate Governance Structure The Case of Italy

Author

Listed:

Abstract

This study provides empirical evidence on the relationship between dividend payout ratios, executive compensation and agency costs in Italy. Corporate governance in Italy is distinguished by the fact that a large number of Italian firms are family controlled, which may theoretically reduce asymmetry of information and associated agency costs. Using a panel of listed manufacturing firms we find evidence that family control plays a significant role in resolving agency issues, i.e. that increases in family control of the firm lead to a higher dividend payout. Nevertheless, as we also find that managerial compensations are negatively related to dividend payout ratios, even in this family controlled environment, dividends do play their role in mitigating agency problems.

Suggested Citation

  • Nalinaksha Bhattacharyya & Julie Ann Elston & Laura Rondi, 2011. "Agency Issues in a Family Controlled Corporate Governance Structure The Case of Italy," CERIS Working Paper 201106, CNR-IRCrES Research Institute on Sustainable Economic Growth - Torino (TO) ITALY - former Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth - Moncalieri (TO) ITALY.
    • Handle: RePEc:csc:cerisp:201106
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.byterfly.eu/islandora/object/librib:348532
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Volpin, Paolo F., 2002. "Erratum to "Governance with poor investor protection: evidence from top executive turnover in Italy": [Journal of Financial Economics 64 (2002) 61-90]," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 159-160, July.
    2. Anderson, Ronald C. & Mansi, Sattar A. & Reeb, David M., 2003. "Founding family ownership and the agency cost of debt," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 263-285, May.
    3. Volpin, Paolo F., 2002. "Governance with poor investor protection: evidence from top executive turnover in Italy," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 61-90, April.
    4. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:2:p:537-600 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez‐de‐Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 2000. "Agency Problems and Dividend Policies around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 1-33, February.
    6. Elston, Julie Ann & Goldberg, Lawrence G., 2003. "Executive compensation and agency costs in Germany," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(7), pages 1391-1410, July.
    7. Laura Rondi & Julie Ann Elston, 2009. "Corporate Governance And Capital Accumulation: Firm‐Level Evidence From Italy," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 56(5), pages 634-661, November.
    8. Robert Carpenter & Laura Rondi, 2006. "Going Public to Grow? Evidence from a Panel of Italian Firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 27(4), pages 387-407, December.
    9. Malcolm Baker & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2003. "A Catering Theory of Dividends," NBER Working Papers 9542, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Faccio, Mara & Lang, Larry H. P., 2002. "The ultimate ownership of Western European corporations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 365-395, September.
    11. Easterbrook, Frank H, 1984. "Two Agency-Cost Explanations of Dividends," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(4), pages 650-659, September.
    12. Marco Becht & Fabrizio Barca, 2001. "The control of corporate Europe," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/13302, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    13. Brunello, Giorgio & Graziano, Clara & Parigi, Bruno M., 2003. "CEO turnover in insider-dominated boards: The Italian case," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 1027-1051, June.
    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. Ravichandran K. Subramaniam & Khakan Najaf & Murugasu Thangarajah, 2022. "Board Governance, Dividend Payout and Executive Compensation in Malaysian Firms," Capital Markets Review, Malaysian Finance Association, vol. 30(1), pages 17-35.
    2. Geiler, P.H.M. & Renneboog, L.D.R., 2014. "Executive Remuneration and the Payout Decision," Discussion Paper 2014-032, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.

    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. Clara Graziano & Laura Rondi, 2015. "Market Competition or Family Ties: Which Prevails on Italian CEOs Pay?," CESifo Working Paper Series 5398, CESifo.
    2. Schmid, Thomas & Ampenberger, Markus & Kaserer, Christoph & Achleitner, Ann-Kristin, 2010. "Controlling shareholders and payout policy: do founding families have a special 'taste for dividends'?," CEFS Working Paper Series 2010-01, Technische Universität München (TUM), Center for Entrepreneurial and Financial Studies (CEFS).
    3. Croci, Ettore & Gonenc, Halit & Ozkan, Neslihan, 2012. "CEO compensation, family control, and institutional investors in Continental Europe," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 3318-3335.
    4. Bernard Yeung & Randall Morck & Daniel Wolfenzon, 2004. "Corporate Governance, Economic Entrenchment and Growth," Working Papers 04-21, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
    5. Giannetti, Mariassunta & Simonov, Andrei, 2003. "Which Investors Fear Expropriation? Evidence from Investors' Stock Picking," CEPR Discussion Papers 3843, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Barbara, Petracci, 2011. "Trading when you cannot trade: Blackout periods in Italian firms," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 196-204, September.
    7. Andres, Christian & Betzer, André & Goergen, Marc, 2011. "Dividend policy, corporate control and tax clienteles: The case of Germany," CFS Working Paper Series 2011/16, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    8. 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).
    9. Heitor Almeida & Daniel Wolfenzon, 2005. "A Theory of Pyramidal Ownership and Family Business Groups," NBER Working Papers 11368, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Marco Cucculelli & Lidia Mannarino & Valeria Pupo & Fernanda Ricotta, 2014. "Owner‐Management, Firm Age, and Productivity in Italian Family Firms," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(2), pages 325-343, April.
    11. Christian Andres & André Betzer & Inga Bongard & Marc Goergen, 2019. "Dividend policy, corporate control and the tax status of the controlling shareholder," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 46(2), pages 157-189, June.
    12. Almeida, Heitor & Park, Sang Yong & Subrahmanyam, Marti G. & Wolfenzon, Daniel, 2011. "The structure and formation of business groups: Evidence from Korean chaebols," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 447-475, February.
    13. Javakhadze, David & Ferris, Stephen P. & Sen, Nilanjan, 2014. "An international analysis of dividend smoothing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 200-220.
    14. Feng, Xunan & Hu, Na & Johansson, Anders C., 2016. "Ownership, analyst coverage, and stock synchronicity in China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 79-96.
    15. John M. Barrios & Marco Fasan & Daniele Macciocchi, 2013. "CEO turnover, earnings management and value relevance. A theoretical analysis on the Italian context," Working Papers 11, Venice School of Management - Department of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia.
    16. Gutiérrez, Luis H. & Pombo, Carlos, 2009. "Corporate ownership and control contestability in emerging markets: The case of Colombia," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 112-139.
    17. Luciana Mancinelli & Aydin Ozkan, 2006. "Ownership structure and dividend policy: Evidence from Italian firms," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 265-282.
    18. 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.
    19. Andrea Melis & Silvia Carta & Silvia Gaia, 2012. "Executive remuneration in blockholder-dominated firms. How do Italian firms use stock options?," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 16(3), pages 511-541, August.
    20. Roberto Barontini & Lorenzo Caprio, 2006. "The Effect of Family Control on Firm Value and Performance: Evidence from Continental Europe," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 12(5), pages 689-723, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corporate Governance; Managerial Compensation; Dividends; Family Firms; Italy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G35 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Payout Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:csc:cerisp:201106. 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: Anna Perin or Giancarlo Birello (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cerisit.html .

    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.