Does international experience of managers bring financing benefits? Evidence from the cost of equity capital

Jun Hu, Wenbin Long, Ming Dai and (Troy) Yao, Daifei

Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, 2022, vol. 18, issue 1

Abstract: Using a sample of Chinese firms, this study examines whether and how managers’ overseas experience affects a firm’s cost of equity capital. We document a negative association between managers’ overseas experience and the cost of equity capital. Mechanism analyses indicate that companies with returnee managers have better information quality and lower systematic risk; more institutional investors, media reports, and analysts following; and higher stock liquidity, all of which lead to a lower cost of equity capital. Further analyses show that chief executive officers (CEOs) with foreign experience have a more significant impact on the cost of capital than non-CEO managers with foreign experience and that managers’ overseas work experience has a more significant impact on the cost of capital than their overseas education. We also find that the impact of managers’ overseas experience is more pronounced when that experience is gained in common law countries compared to code law countries but weaker for state-owned enterprises and firms that are cross-listed or have foreign institutional investors. Overall, the results suggest that managers’ knowledge, skills, and ethical values imprinted from overseas experience, plus eyeball effects from media and analyst attention, can reduce the cost of equity capital.

Keywords: Managers’ overseas experience; Cost of equity capital; Imprinting effect; Eyeball effect (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G32 M54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jocaae:v:18:y:2022:i:1:s1815566921000527

DOI: 10.1016/j.jcae.2021.100294

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