Do the relationship paths between capital structure and investment efficiency depend on information asymmetry? A comparison between emerging and developed countries

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to analyze the moderating role of debt maturity and the mediating role of information asymmetry in the relationship between financial leverage and investment efficiency and to compare the results between firms domiciled in emerging and those headquartered in developed countries. Using two proxies for investment efficiency, the results showed that debt maturity moderates the association between financial leverage and investment efficiency at both levels of developed and emerging countries. This paper also confirmed that information asymmetry carries the influence of financial leverage to investment efficiency only for those enterprises headquartered in emerging countries.

KEYWORDS:

• Short-term and long-term debt
• investment efficiency
• information asymmetry

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).