Attila Yaprak accepted for publication in the Journal of Business Research

Attila Yaprak, a professor of marketing and international business at the Mike Ilitch School of Business has had his paper "National culture and firms' cash holdings: The role of indulgence and its boundaries," accepted for publication in Journal of Business Research.

The Journal of Business Research is set to feature Yaprak's research in its upcoming print edition in early 2024. This journal publishes rigorous, relevant, and impactful research on many areas of business activity. Yaprak's examines the impact of indulgence versus restraint on firms' cash holdings, elucidating the intricate relationship between culture and firm behavior.

Abstract:

We examine the influence of indulgence vs restraint (IVR), an understudied national culture dimension of Hofstede's framework, on firms' cash holdings to shed light on how culture influences this firm behavior and the boundaries of this effect. We argue that, when compared to their restrained-society counterparts, indulgent-society firms will hold higher cash levels due to their greater propensity for risky investments (precautionary motive) and their managers' weaker moral constraints (agency motive). We also argue that firms' leverage, and risky investment levels will intensify, and firm size and countries' shareholder protection levels will attenuate the positive effect of indulgence on firms' cash holdings. The results of our HLM analyses on 16,997 firms across 39 countries verify our arguments and contribute to a more enhanced understanding of national culture's role in firm's cash holdings.

- Fahmida Khanom