This study examines the relationship between geopolitical risk and firms’ capital structure decisions, focusing on the moderating effects of executive characteristics. Using US corporations data from 1992 to 2020, we find that firms adopt more conservative capital structure choices in response to higher exposure to geopolitical risk. Furthermore, we investigate how executives’ age and gender influence this relationship. Our findings indicate that firms with a higher proportion of female executives demonstrate heightened sensitivity to geopolitical risk, leading to more risk-averse financial decisions. In contrast, firms with older executives attenuate the adverse impact of geopolitical risk on financial leverage, suggesting a mitigating effect. The robustness of our results is confirmed through alternative measures of capital structure and estimation methods. We also identify risk aversion as a potential channel through which geopolitical risk affects capital structure choices and examine the role of executive characteristics in this channel using a moderated mediation model.

中文翻译：

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作为调节者的高管特征：探索地缘政治风险对资本结构决策的影响

本研究探讨了地缘政治风险与企业资本结构决策之间的关系，重点关注高管特征的调节作用。使用 1992 年至 2020 年美国企业的数据，我们发现企业采取更保守的资本结构选择来应对更高的地缘政治风险。此外，我们还调查了高管的年龄和性别如何影响这种关系。我们的研究结果表明，女性高管比例较高的公司对地缘政治风险表现出更高的敏感性，从而导致更多规避风险的财务决策。相比之下，高管年长的公司减弱了地缘政治风险对财务杠杆的不利影响，表明存在缓解效应。我们结果的稳健性通过资本结构和估算方法的替代衡量指标得到证实。我们还将风险厌恶视为地缘政治风险影响资本结构选择的潜在渠道，并使用有调节的中介模型检验高管特征在该渠道中的作用。