The effects of ownership concentration and corporate governance on corporate risk-taking

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the effects of ownership concentration and corporate governance on the extent of risk-taking in an important emerging economy – Thailand. Design/methodology/approach: The results are corroborated by additional analysis, including an instrumental-variable analysis and propensity score matching. Findings: Large owners are under-diversified and are thus more vulnerable to the firm’s idiosyncratic risk. Therefore, they tend to advocate less risky corporate policies and strategies. Consistent with this notion, the authors find that more concentrated ownership induces firms to take significantly less risk. Originality/value: Ownership in Thai firms is substantially more concentrated than that in developed economies, providing a unique opportunity to study the effect of highly concentrated ownership on risk-taking.