Advances in Management and Applied Economics

The relationship between senior executives’age and agency costs A study based on inter-generational perspective

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  • Abstract

     

    By using individual age characteristics as the breakthrough point and executive echelon theory,agency theory and inter-generational difference theory,this paper analyzes the influence of the chairman's age and the age gap of the chairman and the CEO on the agency cost. We selected the CEO and chairman of A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets from 2010 to 2016 as the research objects. And the empirical results show that the age of the chairman was negatively correlated with the agency cost. Meanwhile,there is a nonlinear negative correlation between the generation gap and agency cost, and the enterprise ownership does not affect the conclusion. The research in this paper provides empirical evidence for the interpretation of agency problem from the perspective of managers' characteristics.

    JEL classification numbers: G34,G41,M120

    Keywords: Executives; Generation gap; Ggency costs; Corporate governance