Exploring the Effects of Managerial Ownership on the Decision to Go Private: A Behavioral Agency Model Approach

Abstract

This paper utilizes the behavioral agency model to investigate why many formerly public companies have been converted to privately held corporations. Using a matched pairs sample and categorical binary regression, and controlling for effects found in previous studies, we explore how the equity ownership of those entrusted to manage firms, the firms’ executives, might affect their perceptions of the risks of going private and might therefore affect the decision to take a company private. This study complements prior research examining the predictors of public to private transactions and illustrates how behavioral agency theory can provide insight into a major decision regarding the firm’s corporate structure. It also extends the behavioral agency model to decisions involving organizational form.