 How does firm size explain cross-country differences in ownership concentration?Fariborz Moshirian, Thuy Thi Nguyen and Bohui Zhang Journal of Multinational Financial Management, 2022, vol. 65, issue C Abstract: While a number of studies have examined ownership structure across countries, the literature has not yet reached a consensus as to how and why ownership concentration and the size sensitivity of ownership concentration vary across countries. Using a sample of 18,932 firms across 40 countries, we find that there is a negative relationship between firm size and ownership concentration and thus lower ownership concentration in countries with a high quality of governance. Meanwhile, in countries with weak governance, ownership concentration persists even as firms get larger. Our findings support the theory that a firm’s choice of optimal ownership structure depends on its quality of governance, which includes both vertical and horizontal governance. Our study also finds that civic capital, including ethical values, contribute to the variation of ownership structure across countries. The findings also potentially reconcile the currently conflicting empirical results in studies of ownership concentration around the world. Keywords: Ownership concentration; Firm size; Ethical values; Civic capital; Quality of governance (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:mulfin:v:65:y:2022:i:c:s1042444x22000081 DOI: 10.1016/j.mulfin.2022.100737 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Multinational Financial Management is currently edited by I. Mathur and G. G. Booth More articles in Journal of Multinational Financial Management from Elsevier |
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