Corporate Governance and Capital Structure: Extending Agency Theory From Executives to the Board of Directors

Abstract

This study extended agency theory by assessing differences in capital structure associated with various levels of board compensation. A two-way factorial ANOVA examined differences in capital structure based on various levels of board compensation and board size for 158 publicly traded companies. The results showed there were significant differences in the mean capital structure based on different levels of board compensation, but there were no significant differences in the mean capital structure based on different levels of board size. The results also showed there was no significant interaction between board compensation and board size. These findings provide empirical evidence of agency theory among the board members used in this sample.