Managerial ownership, corporate governance and firms' exporting decisions: evidence from Chinese listed companies

Using a large panel of Chinese listed companies over the period 2004-2010, we document that both export propensity and intensity increase with managerial ownership up to a point of around 23-27% and decrease thereafter. In addition, we find a negative association between state ownership and export intensity. Finally, we observe that the larger their board of directors, the lower firms' export propensity and intensity, and that firms with a higher proportion of independent directors in the board are generally less likely to export. These findings are mainly driven by privately controlled firms during the post-2006 period.