管理层权力制衡强度与资本结构调整速度——基于债务约束效应视角

Management Power Balance Intensity and Adjustment Speed of Capital Structure:From the Perspective of Debt Constraint Effect

公司内部的权力制衡机制对治理水平有着重要影响,进而影响决策的科学性和合理性。本文利用2010—2018年我国A股上市公司数据,实证分析管理层权力制衡强度对资本结构调整速度的影响,并考察了债务约束视角下产权性质、成长机会对两者关系的调节作用。研究结果表明:管理层权力制衡强度对资本结构调整速度存在显著的正向影响,不同维度的管理层权力制衡强度和综合权力制衡强度对资本结构调整速度有着一致的治理作用。进一步研究发现,国有企业的债务软约束弱化了管理层权力制衡强度对资本结构调整速度的促进作用;高成长性公司较强的债务约束,也使得管理层权力制衡强度对资本结构调整速度的积极影响被弱化。此外,区分资本结构向上、向下不同的调整方向后,研究结论依然一致。上述研究结论不仅支持了规范管理层内部权力结构的重要治理作用,而且给资本结构调整速度研究提供了新的视角。

The power balance mechanism within the company has an important impact on the governance,which in turn affects the scientificity and rationality of decision-making.However,at present,the internal governance structure of most companies is distorted.As far as the directors and executives are concerned,the functions of the two are mixed,and directors are overly involved in daily decisions of company.The chairman even serves as general manager and holds a lot of power,overriding other directors and executives,the constraint-and-balance relationship in internal operators such as directors and executives is weakened.In addition to being affected by the company’s own characteristics,the company’s capital structure is also an expression of the wishes of internal operators such as directors and executives.Therefore,strengthening the mechanisms for supervising and balancing power in internal operators such as directors and executives will alleviate the agency conflict.It is particularly important for optimizing adjustment speed of capital structure.Using the data of Chinese listed companies from 2010 to 2018,this paper empirically analyzes the influence of management power balance intensity to adjustment speed of capital structure,and the regulatory effect of property and growth on the relationship between the two from the perspective of debt constraints.The research shows that management power balance intensity significantly increases the adjustment speed of capital structure.At the same time,the soft debt constraints of state-owned enterprises have weakened the role of management power balance intensity in promoting the adjustment speed of capital structure.High-growth companies have stronger debt constraints,making the positive impact of management power balance intensity on the adjustment speed of capital structure weaken.The research not only provides practical guidance for the improvement of management’s internal structure governance,but also provides a new theoretical basis for the adjustment speed of capital structure.The contribution of this paper lies in the following aspects.First,in recent years,the upsurge of"mixed ownership reform"in state-owned enterprises has attracted more attention to the power balance of companies.The practice community advocates diversification of equity,and the academic community is keen to study the positive governance effects of equity balance.But ignores the important governance role of power balance of internal operators such as directors and executives.At present,there are still few related researches on management power balance intensity,and most of them are based on normative research,with few empirical tests.The research in this paper draws on ideas from disciplines such as politics and society,then explores the governance mechanism of management power balance intensity in conjunction with the current internal governance of micro-enterprises.It increases the theoretical basis of the power balance,and further enriches the empirical literature on that.Second,the current research on optimizing the adjustment speed of capital structure mostly considers incentive measures or calls for strengthening external supervision.While still not many consider improving the internal governance structure,and most of them focus on the equity structure(such as equity concentration,equity balance)optimization.However,management power balance intensity is also a key factor in the improvement of internal governance structure.Studying its impact on the adjustment speed of capital structure is not only a novel perspective,but also a research necessity.Third,compared with the adjustment speed of capital structure,scholars pay more attention to the static capital structure.Some scholars study the relationship between the power balance and the capital structure,mainly focusing on the impact on the static capital structure,while researches of the impact on the adjustment speed of capital structure is still rare.