{"title":"The corporate risk-taking and performance of politically connected firms: evidence from Malaysia","authors":"Alice Chin, Ooi Chin Lye, K. Najaf","doi":"10.1108/apjba-07-2021-0315","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"PurposeOne of the significant components of a firm's overall sustainability is establishing and nurturing governance. This study attempts to understand how politically connected firms maintain sustainability measures in terms of risk-taking strategies. This paper has two purposes. The first purpose is to provide empirical evidence on the politically connected (PC) firms' corporate risk-taking and performance. The second purpose is to investigate the moderating impact of PC firms' risk on corporate performance.Design/methodology/approachTo conduct the analysis to test our hypothesis efficiently, data has been collected from Bloomberg and annual reports of all Malaysian PC and non-PC companies. The final sample comprises 561 firms over the investigation period 2010–2019. The methodology entails Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regressions of the impact of the PC firms on corporate risk-taking and performance. The authors also conduct t-tests of the equality of means of corporate risk-taking and performance between PC and non-PC companies.FindingsThe authors’ results show that politically connected firms undertake significant less corporate risk and relish higher financial performance than their counterparts. It implicatively insinuates that the presence of a politician on the board enables the management to mitigate the risk-taking, which makes the firms more profitable. The authors’ results corroborate network theory, suggesting that political ties alleviate the agency issue and safeguard the shareholders' interest.Research limitations/implicationsThe study's results were important as they highlighted the sustainable development of PC and non-PC companies, offering insights to researchers, policymakers, regulators, financial report users, investors, environmental unions, employees, clients and society.Originality/valueThis paper is novel since it is unique in evaluating sustainable practice in PC and non-PC firms.","PeriodicalId":45401,"journal":{"name":"Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3000,"publicationDate":"2022-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1108/apjba-07-2021-0315","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BUSINESS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
PurposeOne of the significant components of a firm's overall sustainability is establishing and nurturing governance. This study attempts to understand how politically connected firms maintain sustainability measures in terms of risk-taking strategies. This paper has two purposes. The first purpose is to provide empirical evidence on the politically connected (PC) firms' corporate risk-taking and performance. The second purpose is to investigate the moderating impact of PC firms' risk on corporate performance.Design/methodology/approachTo conduct the analysis to test our hypothesis efficiently, data has been collected from Bloomberg and annual reports of all Malaysian PC and non-PC companies. The final sample comprises 561 firms over the investigation period 2010–2019. The methodology entails Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regressions of the impact of the PC firms on corporate risk-taking and performance. The authors also conduct t-tests of the equality of means of corporate risk-taking and performance between PC and non-PC companies.FindingsThe authors’ results show that politically connected firms undertake significant less corporate risk and relish higher financial performance than their counterparts. It implicatively insinuates that the presence of a politician on the board enables the management to mitigate the risk-taking, which makes the firms more profitable. The authors’ results corroborate network theory, suggesting that political ties alleviate the agency issue and safeguard the shareholders' interest.Research limitations/implicationsThe study's results were important as they highlighted the sustainable development of PC and non-PC companies, offering insights to researchers, policymakers, regulators, financial report users, investors, environmental unions, employees, clients and society.Originality/valueThis paper is novel since it is unique in evaluating sustainable practice in PC and non-PC firms.
期刊介绍:
The Asia Pacific Journal of Business Administration (APJBA) publishes original research on: Business Strategy and Policy, Accounting and Board Governance, Marketing and People Management, and Operations and Supply Chain Management. The journal welcomes practical and skill-based submissions in these areas. There is particular interest in submissions regarding: Sustainable Business Practices, Quality Management Practices, Innovation and Creativity in Management, as well as Managing a Learning Organisation. The Asia Pacific region is full of collaborations between government, NGOs and private enterprise. Submissions are welcome which contribute to our understanding of partnerships and the cross-cultural issues. Research methods vary, and the journal is interested in the full diverse of qualitative (case and action research, etc) as well as quantitative survey studies and their recommendations. The APJBA seeks to become a forum for both established scholars and early career researchers in all aspects of management and business in the Asia-Pacific region. Emphasis is on rigour and relevance, on theory and practice, in a globalised scholarly environment.