Share:


Political connection, foreign institutional investors and tunneling: evidence from Indonesia

    Elva Nuraina   Affiliation
    ; Mohammad Nasih Affiliation
    ; Dian Agustia Affiliation

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating effect of foreign institutional investors on the relationship between political connection and tunneling. To achieve this goal, our study has examined all companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange between 2015 and 2019, and obtained 1,571 firm-year observations. By using a quantitative approach and data analysis using moderated regression analysis, the results of this study indicate that foreign institutional investors play a role in weakening political connections to tunneling. This shows that foreign institutional investors have a role in reducing tunneling. These investors influence the behavior and performance of the company, so, even though the company has political ties, foreign institutional investors are less susceptible to political pressure and are more likely to negotiate to enhance the interests of minority shareholders, and protect their reputations. This finding has important implications for regulators to consider when evaluating the Investor Protection Act, in particular the protection of minority shareholder rights in companies with political ties.

Keyword : tunneling, political connection, foreign institutional investors, minority shareholders, reputation

How to Cite
Nuraina, E., Nasih, M., & Agustia, D. (2022). Political connection, foreign institutional investors and tunneling: evidence from Indonesia. Business: Theory and Practice, 23(2), 417–426. https://doi.org/10.3846/btp.2022.16025
Published in Issue
Nov 29, 2022
Abstract Views
468
PDF Downloads
300
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Aggarwal, R., Erel, I., Ferreira, M., & Matos, P. (2011). Does governance travel around the world? Evidence from institutional investors. Journal of Financial Economics, 100(1), 154–181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2010.10.018

Akey, P. (2015). Valuing changes in political networks: Evidence from campaign contributions to close congressional elections. Review of Financial Studies, 28(11), 3188–3223. https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhv035

Anderson, H., Chi, J., & Liao, J. (2019). Foreign strategic ownership and minority shareholder protection. Emerging Markets Review, 39(March), 34–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ememar.2019.03.005

Bena, J., Ferreira, M. A., Matos, P., & Pires, P. (2017). Are foreign investors locusts? The long-term effects of foreign institutional ownership. Journal of Financial Economics, 126(1), 122–146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2017.07.005

Berkman, H., Cole, R. A., & Fu, L. J. (2010). Political connections and minority-shareholder protection: Evidence from securities-market regulation in China. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 45(6), 1391–1417. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022109010000608

Chen, C. J. P., Li, Z., Su, X., & Sun, Z. (2011). Rent-seeking incentives, corporate political connections, and the control structure of private firms: Chinese evidence. Journal of Corporate Finance, 17(2), 229–243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2010.09.009

Chen, S., Han, X., & Jebran, K. (2020). Social trust environment and tunneling. Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, 16(3), 100212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcae.2020.100212

Chen, W., Li, S., & Chen, C. X. (2016). How much control causes tunneling? Evidence from China. China Journal of Accounting Research, 10(3), 231–245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cjar.2016.10.001

Cho, S., & Lim, K. M. (2018). Tunneling by related-party transactions: Evidence from Korean conglomerates. Asian Economic Journal, 32(2), 147–164. https://doi.org/10.1111/asej.12146

Choi, H. M., Cho, Y. G., & Sul, W. (2014). Ownership-control disparity and foreign investors’ ownership: Evidence from the Korean stock market. Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, 50(April), 178–193. https://doi.org/10.2753/REE1540-496X5001S112

Covrig, V. M., Defond, M. L., & Hung, M. (2007). Home bias, foreign mutual fund holdings, and the voluntary adoption of international accounting standards. Journal of Accounting Research, 45(1), 41–70. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-679X.2007.00226.x

Dang, V. Q. T., So, E. P. K., & Yan, I. K. M. (2018). The value of political connection: Evidence from the 2011 Egyptian revolution. International Review of Economics and Finance, 56, 238–257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iref.2017.10.027

Das, P. (2014). The role of corporate governance in foreign investments. Applied Financial Economics, 24(3), 187–201. https://doi.org/10.1080/09603107.2013.870650

Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat. (n.d.). www.dpr.go.id

Faccio, M., Masulis, R. W., & Mcconnell, J. J. (2006). Political connections and corporate bailouts. Journal of Finance, 61(6), 2597–2635. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.2006.01000.x

Fang, V. W., Maffett, M., & Zhang, B. (2015). Foreign institutional ownership and the global convergence of financial reporting practices. Journal of Accounting Research, 53(3), 593–631. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-679X.12076

Fisman, R. (2001). Estimating the value of political connections. American Economic Review, 91(4), 1095–1102. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.91.4.1095

Francis, B. B., Hasan, I., & Sun, X. (2009). Political connections and the process of going public: Evidence from China. Journal of International Money and Finance, 28(4), 696–719. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jimonfin.2009.01.002

Garner, J. L., & Kim, W. Y. (2013). Are foreign investors really beneficial? Evidence from South Korea. Pacific Basin Finance Journal, 25, 62–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pacfin.2013.08.003

Gong, M., Wang, Y., & Yang, X. (2021). Do independent directors restrain controlling shareholders’ tunneling? Evidence from a natural experiment in China. Economic Modelling, 94(January), 548–559. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2020.01.023

Guoping, L., & Hong, Z. (2015). Political connections and access to IPO markets in China. China Economic Review, 33, 76–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chieco.2015.01.009

Ha, P. V., & Frömmel, M. (2020). Political connection heterogeneity and firm value in Vietnam. Cogent Business and Management, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2020.1738202

Habib, A., Muhammadi, A. H., & Jiang, H. (2017a). Political connections, related party transactions, and auditor choice: Evidence from Indonesia. Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, 13(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcae.2017.01.004

Habib, A., Muhammadi, A. H., & Jiang, H. (2017b). Political connections and related party transactions: Evidence from Indonesia. The International Journal of Accounting, 52(1), 45–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intacc.2017.01.004

Harymanwan, I. (2018). Why do firms appoint former military personnel as directors? Evidence of loan interest rate in military connected firms in Indonesia. Asian Review of Accounting, 26(1), 2–18. https://doi.org/10.1108/ARA-07-2016-0086

Harymawan, I., Nasih, M., Madyan, M., & Sucahyati, D. (2019). The role of political connections on family firms’ performance: Evidence from Indonesia. International Journal of Financial Studies, 7(4), 55. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijfs7040055

Harymawan, I., & Nowland, J. (2016). Political connections and earnings quality: How do connected firms respond to change in political stability and government effectiveness? International Journal of Accounting & Information Management, 24(4), 339–356. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJAIM-05-2016-0056

Hayes, A. F. (2018). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach (2nd ed.). The Guilford Press.

Holmes, R. M., Hoskisson, R. E., Kim, H., Wan, W. P., & Holcomb, T. R. (2018). International strategy and business groups: A review and future research agenda. Journal of World Business, 53(2), 134–150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2016.11.003

Huang, J. J., Shen, Y., & Sun, Q. (2011). Nonnegotiable shares, controlling shareholders, and dividend payments in China. Journal of Corporate Finance, 17(1), 122–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2010.09.007

Huang, W., & Zhu, T. (2015). Foreign institutional investors and corporate governance in emerging markets: Evidence of a split-share structure reform in China. Journal of Corporate Finance, 32, 312–326. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2014.10.013

Jennings, W. W. (2005). Further evidence on institutional ownership and corporate value. Advances in Financial Economics, 11, 167–207. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1569-3732(04)11008-6

Jiang, G., Lee, C. M. C., & Yue, H. (2010). Tunneling through intercorporate loans: The China experience. Journal of Financial Economics, 98(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2010.05.002

Jiang, L., & Kim, J. B. (2004). Foreign equity ownership and information asymmetry: Evidence from Japan. Journal of International Financial Management and Accounting, 15(3), 185–211. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-646X.2004.00107.x

Johnson, S., Porta, R. La, Lopez-de-Silanes, F., & Shleifer, A. (2000). Tunneling. The American Economic Review, 90(2), 22–27. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.90.2.22

Joni, J., Ahmed, K., & Hamilton, J. (2020). Politically connected boards, family and business group affiliations, and cost of capital: Evidence from Indonesia. British Accounting Review, 52(3), 100878. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2019.100878

Lee, E. J., Kim, S., & Jang, Y. (2022). Foreign investment horizons, corporate governance and payout policy. Journal of Derivatives and Quantitative Studies, 30(3). https://doi.org/10.1108/JDQS-02-2022-0004

Lel, U. (2018). The role of foreign institutional investors in restraining earnings management activities across countries. Journal of International Business Studies, 50, 895–922. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-018-0195-z

Li, G. (2010). The pervasiveness and severity of tunneling by controlling shareholders in China. China Economic Review, 21(2), 310–323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chieco.2010.02.002

Li, Z. (2017). The impact of qualified foreign institutional investors on controlling shareholder’s tunneling: Evidence of listed companies in China. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 7(4), 522–536. https://doi.org/10.4236/ajibm.2017.74038

Lockett, M. (1988). Culture and the problems of Chinese management. Organization Studies, 9(4), 475–496. https://doi.org/10.1177/017084068800900402

Ma, L., Ma, S., & Tian, G. (2013). Political connections, founder-managers, and their impact on tunneling in China’s listed firms. Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, 24, 312–339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pacfin.2013.07.001

Miettinen, T., & Poutvaara, P. (2014). A market for connections. European Journal of Political Economy, 33, 37–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2013.11.003

Morck, R. K., Strengeland, D. A., & Yeung, B. (1988). Inherited wealth, corporate control and economic growth: The Canadian disease? In NBER Working Paper No. w6814. https://doi.org/10.5860/CHOICE.45-5674

Nyeadi, J. D., & Adjasi, C. (2020). Foreign direct investment and firm innovation in selected sub-Saharan African Countries. Cogent Business and Management, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2020.1763650

Qian, M., Pan, H., & Yeung, B. (2011). Expropriation of minority shareholders in politically connected firms. In Finance and Corporate Governance Conference 2011 Paper (pp. 1–37). SSRN. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1719335

Sari, R. C., & Sugiharto. (2014). Tunneling dan corporate governance. UGM Press.

Sekretariat Kabinet Republik Indonesia. (n.d.). www.setkab.go.id

Sekretariat Kabinet Republik Indonesia. (n.d.). Tag: Kemendagri. https://setkab.go.id/tag/kemendagri/

Shen, W., Zhou, Q., & Lau, C. M. (2016). Empirical research on corporate governance in China: A review and new directions for the future. Management and Organization Review, 12(1), 41–73. https://doi.org/10.1017/mor.2015.11

Strouhal, J., Stamfestova, P., Kljucnikov, A., & Vincurova, Z. (2018). Different approaches to the ebit construction and their impact on corporate financial performance based on the return on assets: Some evidence from Czech Top100 companies. Journal of Competitiveness, 10(1), 144–154. https://doi.org/10.7441/joc.2018.01.09

Supatmi, Sutrisno, T., Saraswati, E., & Purnomosidhi, B. (2019). The effect of related party transactions on firm performance: The moderating role of political connection in Indonesian banking. Business: Theory and Practice, 20, 81–92. https://doi.org/10.3846/btp.2019.08

Tsai, P. H., Liu, Y., & Liu, X. (2021). Collusion, political connection, and tax avoidance in China. Kyklos, 74(3), 417–441. https://doi.org/10.1111/kykl.12265

Wang, L. (2015). Protection or expropriation: Politically connected independent directors in China. Journal of Banking and Finance, 55, 92–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2015.02.015

Yeh, C. M. (2021). The signaling roles of ownership and board structure for foreign institutional investors in the tourism industry. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 49(April), 65–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2021.08.026

Zhao, X. (2019). The effect of political connections: Model analysis and quantitative simulation. Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, 57(5), 1271–1283. https://doi.org/10.1080/1540496X.2019.1612362

Zhu, H., & Chung, C. N. (2014). Portfolios of political ties and business group strategy in emerging economies: Evidence from Taiwan. Administrative Science Quarterly, 59(4), 599–638. https://doi.org/10.1177/0001839214545277