Dimensions of the research on capital structure and firm performance

The present paper seeks to examine the evolution of research on capital structure and firms’ performance. Dynamic analysis shows that the specialist literature has been enriched with theoretical and empirical wide-ranging debates; the existing body of research has provided analytical frameworks vital for grounding, understanding and implementing firms’ capital structure policies identify and for quantifying the impact of financial structure on firm performance; however, the analysis reveals that previous research have certain limitations, which pose challenges for further investigations. Based on a summary of (descriptive and critical) principles, stages and phases, methods, techniques and instruments related to the research and knowledge of the impact of capital structure on firm performance, the study suggests that we are witnessing progress in scientific research and, consequently, in the implementation of increasingly elaborate methodologies.