TY - JOUR

T1 - Ownership structure and corporate tax avoidance:

T2 - A structured literature review on archival research

AU - Velte, Patrick

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

PY - 2024/5/28

Y1 - 2024/5/28

N2 - Purpose: To the best of the author’s knowledge, the author conducts the first detailed review on the impact of ownership variables on corporate tax avoidance, based on 69 archival studies over the two last decades. Design/methodology/approach: Referring to an agency-theoretical framework, the author differentiates between six categories of ownership (institutional, state, family, foreign, managerial and cross-ownership/ownership concentration). The author also includes research on ownership proxies as moderators of other determinants of tax avoidance. Findings: The review indicates that most research refers to institutional, state and family ownership. Moreover, except for state ownership, no clear tendencies on the impact of included ownership types can be found in line with the author’s agency-theoretical framework. Research limitations/implications: Regarding research recommendations, among others, the author stresses the urgent need for recognizing heterogeneity within and interactions between ownership proxies. Researchers should also properly address endogeneity concerns by advanced econometric models (e.g. by the difference-in-difference approach). Practical implications: As international standard setters have implemented massive reform initiatives on both tax avoidance and corporate governance, this literature review underlines the huge interaction between those topics. Firms should carefully analyze their ownership structure and change their tax planning due to owners' individual tax preferences. Originality/value: This analysis makes useful contributions to prior research by focusing on six categories of ownership and their impact on tax avoidance in (multinational) firms and moderating effects. The author provides a detailed overview about current archival research and likes to guide researchers to focus on ownership heterogeneity and endogeneity concerns.

AB - Purpose: To the best of the author’s knowledge, the author conducts the first detailed review on the impact of ownership variables on corporate tax avoidance, based on 69 archival studies over the two last decades. Design/methodology/approach: Referring to an agency-theoretical framework, the author differentiates between six categories of ownership (institutional, state, family, foreign, managerial and cross-ownership/ownership concentration). The author also includes research on ownership proxies as moderators of other determinants of tax avoidance. Findings: The review indicates that most research refers to institutional, state and family ownership. Moreover, except for state ownership, no clear tendencies on the impact of included ownership types can be found in line with the author’s agency-theoretical framework. Research limitations/implications: Regarding research recommendations, among others, the author stresses the urgent need for recognizing heterogeneity within and interactions between ownership proxies. Researchers should also properly address endogeneity concerns by advanced econometric models (e.g. by the difference-in-difference approach). Practical implications: As international standard setters have implemented massive reform initiatives on both tax avoidance and corporate governance, this literature review underlines the huge interaction between those topics. Firms should carefully analyze their ownership structure and change their tax planning due to owners' individual tax preferences. Originality/value: This analysis makes useful contributions to prior research by focusing on six categories of ownership and their impact on tax avoidance in (multinational) firms and moderating effects. The author provides a detailed overview about current archival research and likes to guide researchers to focus on ownership heterogeneity and endogeneity concerns.

KW - Management studies

KW - Tax avoidance

KW - ownership structure

KW - corporate governance

KW - Agenty theory

KW - institutional ownership

KW - State ownership

KW - H26

KW - M41

KW - M42

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85171265879&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/dc26dea6-aaa5-3cab-893a-f4f7a7034a96/

U2 - 10.1108/JAAR-10-2022-0259

DO - 10.1108/JAAR-10-2022-0259

M3 - Scientific review articles

VL - 25

SP - 696

EP - 731

JO - Journal of Applied Accounting Research

JF - Journal of Applied Accounting Research

SN - 0967-5426

IS - 3

ER -