Impact of Corporate Governance on Capital Structure: Mediating Role of Cost of Capital

Abstract

ix ABSTRACT Impact of Corporate Governance on Capital Structure: Mediating Role of Cost of Capital This study contributes to the existing literature of capital structure by extending the empirical work on the established relationship between the corporate governance and capital structure by analyzing the mediating role of cost of capital. Using five major attributes of corporate governance i.e. board size, board composition, CEO/Chairman duality, managerial ownership and institutional ownership as explanatory variables and weighted average cost of capital as mediator, we attempt to analyze the implication of good governance practices on the effectiveness and value relevance of capital structure decisions. However, debt to asset ratio was used to measure the leverage ratio of the firm considered as the dependent variable of the present study. The sample for this study is 76 non-financial firms listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (formerly Karachi Stock Exchange) for the period of 2004-2015. The analysis of present study has been disintegrated at four levels. Firstly, we have studied the relationship between corporate governance and capital structure, secondly, the relationship between corporate governance and cost of capital, thirdly, the relationship between cost of capital and capital structure and lastly, the indirect effect of cost of capital in the existing relationship between corporate governance and capital structure as the mediator. As the data is cross- sectional-time series, pooled and panel data analysis techniques (i.e. fixed effect and random effect) are used for inferential purposes, after performing regression diagnostics tests such as linearity, normality and heteroskedasticity. In order to choose between fixed and random effect model results, Hausman test was performed which is the indication of appropriateness of obtained results for interpretation. Our findings provide evidence for the explanatory power of corporate governance and the partial mediating role of cost of capital in determining the optimal capital structure. Additionally, we concluded that board composition, CEO/Chair duality and managerial ownership are significant in determining the capital structure decisions of the firm while, institutional ownership and board size are not significant in the financing decisions of the firm. Moreover, somex conventional determinants of capital structure including tangibility and return on assets are also significant in deciding the optimal financial mix of the non-financial firms of Pakistan stock exchange.