Individualism–Collectivism, Private Benefits of Control, and Earnings Management: A Cross-Culture Comparison

Using private benefits of control and earnings management data from 41 countries and regions, we provide strong evidence that cultures, together with legal rules and law enforcement, play a critical role in shaping corporate behavior. More specifically, we find that private benefits of control are l...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Zhang, Xu (Author) ; Liang, Xing (Author) ; Sun, Hongyan (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Springer Science + Business Media B. V 2013
In: Journal of business ethics
Year: 2013, Volume: 114, Issue: 4, Pages: 655-664
Further subjects:B Corporate governance
B Private benefits of control
B Individualism
B Earnings management
B Moral Behavior
B Collectivism
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Summary:Using private benefits of control and earnings management data from 41 countries and regions, we provide strong evidence that cultures, together with legal rules and law enforcement, play a critical role in shaping corporate behavior. More specifically, we find that private benefits of control are larger and earnings management is more severe in collectivist as opposed to individualist cultures, consistent with the argument that agency problems between corporate insiders and outside investors are severe in collectivist culture. These results are robust to the inclusion of controls for country wealth, economic heterogeneity across countries, and international differences in ownership concentration.
ISSN:1573-0697
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of business ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s10551-013-1711-5