The Impact of Family Ownership and Size on Capital Structure Decisions

Abstract

This paper examines the following three hypotheses about which there is some lack of clarification in the financial literature: i) family ownership is a relevant factor in determining firms’ financing decisions; ii) family ownership has a different influence on the use of debt from determining its proportion; and iii) the differentiated influence of the family ownership factor on the decision to use long-term debt and on its proportion depends on firm size. Using a binary choice model to explain the probability of the firm using debt and a fractional data model to explain the proportion of debt issued, we find strong support for the first and third hypotheses. Particularly, we find that: i) depending on size, family ownership influences positively the probability of using debt; ii) depending on size and the use of debt, family ownership influences positively the proportion of debt used.