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National Culture And Capital Structure Decisions: Evidence From Foreign Joint Ventures In China, Kai Li, Dale W. Griffin, Heng Yue, Longkai Zhao

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We investigate the role of firms’ country of origin in financial leverage decisions using data on foreign joint ventures in China. We hypothesize that national culture enters the joint optimization process leading to foreign joint ventures’ leverage decisions and that it affects leverage decisions both directly and indirectly. Using cultural values of mastery and embeddedness to explain country of origin effects, we find that mastery has negative and significant direct effects on foreign joint ventures’ leverage and short-term debt decisions, and a positive and significant direct effect on the likelihood of foreign joint ventures’ having long-term debt. The indirect effects …