Determinants of the adjustment speed of capital structure

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of institutional, macroeconomic, industry, and firm characteristics on the adjustment speed of corporate capital structure within the context of developing countries. Design/methodology/approach – The authors considers a sample of 986 firms drawn from nine developing countries in Africa over a period of ten years (1999-2008). The study develops dynamic partial adjustment models that link capital structure adjustment speed and institutional, macroeconomic, and firm characteristics. The analysis is carried out using system Generalized Method of Moments procedure which is robust to data heterogeneity and endogeneity problems. Findings – The paper finds that firms in developing countries do temporarily deviate from (and partially adjust to) their target capital structures. Our results also indicate that: more profitable firms tend to rapidly adjust their capital structures than less profitable firms; the effects of firm size, growth opportunities, and...