The prevalence of unsecured consumer credit is conducive to the normalization of credit and debt in consumer culture (Peñaloza & Barnhart, 2011). Credit facilities not only enable consumers to achieve intertemporal borrowing possibilities, but also empower individuals to become active members in contemporary consumer culture (Bernthal, Crockett, & Rose, 2005). However, viewing credit and debt as “normal” has often put consumers in precarious financial positions that ultimately lead to longterm struggle of debt repayment and financial deprivation (Fischer, 2013). As Peñaloza and Barnhart (2011) observe, “as phenomena normalize, they merit less conscious attention in being taken for granted” (p.760), which could lead to a fallacious sense of optimism amongst those who may be financially vulnerable. Consequently, the normalization of credit and debt presents a moral challenge in the credit market in that it disrupts consumer capacity to engage in optimal financial socialization. The normalization of debt practice is especially relevant to those who are in the process of learning to use financial tools and to adapt to their accepted practices. Thus, this research pays specific attention to young consumers aged 18-24, as the majority of the population tend to encounter their first stage of financial socialization within this age group. For example, 18 years is the minimum eligibility age for opening a bank account, applying for credit card and using other financial products without parental supervision. Despite being digital natives who benefit from valuable access to offline and online financial decision-making guidance, young consumers are also statistically more likely to experience financial vulnerability than any other age groups. For instance, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (2017) finds that 52% of 18 to 24 year-olds reported low confidence in their ability to manage money and knowledge of financial matters – the worst amongst all adult financial consumers. One in ten people in this age group are also reporting financial difficulties in meeting their day-to-day living expenses and servicing their debts (Financial Conduct Authority, 2017). The young consumer cohort also represents a lucrative target for the credit industry. For example, previous studies find that the young consumers have greater lifetime earning potential than other age groups and greater likelihood to develop long-term brand loyalty towards their first credit card (Braunsberger, Lucas, & Roach, 2004; Szmigin & O’Loughlin, 2010; Warwick & Mansfield, 2000). However, credit card marketing efforts to this market segment has harboured concerns over the youths’ long-term financial welfare due to their predatory practices on these inexperienced consumers. A major criticism of the credit card targeting towards youths is on the promotion of positive, aspirational images of credit card use, which obscures the negative consequences of debt. Moreover, credit card marketing often fails to display transparent credit pricing structures. For example, consumers often do not realize that spending on a 0% balance transfer deal when the promotional period subsides will incur higher interest than non-promotional interest rate (Money Advice Trust, 2009). Despite a growing interest on youth financial literacy (e.g., Richins 2011), the literature remain disconnected and fragmented when it comes to the learning process that individuals go through in order to become financially capable consumers. Such knowledge is valuable for policy developers who seek to enhance young consumers’ financial learning. Following extant research, we define financial socialization as an experiential process influenced by influential agents who interact with, teach and guide individual’s attitude formation and behavior around money (Pinto, 2005; Shim, Barber, Card, Xiao, & Serido, 2010; Ward, 1974). The present research thus aims to examine the impact of debt normalization on the consumers’ financial learning and socialization. In doing so, this study offers important implications in providing insights into how marketing practice can improve their communication strategies and how public policy can strengthen intervention to improve consumer financial decisions.

본 연구는 한국과 인도 상장기업 1,191개를 대상으로 2002년부터 2010년까지의 자료를 사용하여 양국 기업의 자본구조 및 부채만기 결정요인에 관한 연구를 수행하였다. 자본구조를 결정하는 기업 특성요인들에 대한 분석결과는 첫째, 이익과 기업규모는 양국 간에 일치함을 보이는데, 총자산영업이익율은 부채비율과 부(-)의 관계와 자본조달순서이론(pecking order theory)에 부합함을 보인반면, 기업규모는 정(+)의 관계와 상충이론(trade-off theory) 및 대리인이론(agency theory)에 부합함을 보인다. 둘째, 유형자산과 성장기회는 양국 간에 불일치함을 보이는데, 유형자산비율은 한국기업의 경우 부(-)의 관계와 자본조달순서이론에 부합함을, 인도기업의 경우 정(+)의 관계와 상충이론 및 대리인이론에 부합함을 보이고, 시장가 대 장부가 비율은 시장가 부채비율에 대해서 양국 모두 부(-)의 관계와 상충이론, 대리인이론 및 자본조달순서이론에 부합함을 보인다. 부채만기를 결정하는 기업 특성요인들에 대한 분석결과는 첫째, 유형자산, 이익 및 기업규모는 한국기업의 경우 예상대로 부(-)의 부호를 보여 이들 변수가 커질수록 부채만기가 길어짐을 보이나, 인도기업의 경우에는 유의한 관계를 보이지 않는다. 둘째, 성장기회는 한국기업의 경우 예상과 달리 정(+)의 관계를 보이는 반면, 인도기업의 경우는 예상대로 부(-)의 관계를 보이는 것으로 나타났다. 한편, 인도 재벌기업이 한국 재벌기업보다 부채비율이 유의하게 높은 것으로 나타나고 있는데, 이는 한국재벌 대주주 지분율이 인도재벌에 비해 낮을 뿐만 아니라 재벌에 대한 감시비용이 더 높기 때문에 한국 재벌의 경우 부채의 대리인비용이 인도 재벌보다 크기 때문인 것으로 생각된다. 이와 같이 양국 기업의 자본구조와 부채만기가 다른 이유는 첫째, 인도는 영국의 영향을 받아 영미법(common law) 에 기반을 두고 있고 법적으로는 투자자 보호가 잘 되어 있으나 실질적으로는 정부와 사법부의 부패와 비효율적인 법 시스템으로 인해 자본시장을 통한 자금조달이 미미하고, 둘째 인도의 은행예금/GDP 비중과 대출/예금 비중이 우리나라에 비해 매우 낮을 뿐만 아니라 국영은행 위주의 중장기성 정책자금 대출이 많이 이루어지고 있는 관계로 은행을 통한 자금조달에도 한계가 있고, 셋째 인도는 기업간 신용(trade credit)이나 관계회사 대출과 같은 대체자금(alternative financing)에 대한 의존도가 매우 높고, 넷째 인도의 법인세와 이자 및 배당소득세 제도가 레버리지로 인한 세금효과를 더 크게 만들기 때문인 것으로 보인다.

This paper analyzes factors affecting the debt maturity structure of enterprises listed on the Vietnam stock market. The panel data of research sample includes 549 non-financial listed enterprises on the Vietnam stock market from 2009 to 2019. The Generalized Least Square (GLS) tool is employed to address econometric issues and to improve the accuracy of the regression coefficients. In this research, debt maturity structure is the dependent variable. Capital structures, fixed assets, liquidity, firm size, asset maturity, profitability, corporate income tax, gross domestic product, inflation rate, credit growth scale are independent variables in the study. The model results show, that among the factors affecting the structure of debt maturity, the capital structure, asset structure, and firm size have the highest estimation coefficients, which shows that capital structure, asset structure, and firm size plays an important role in the decision-making process of debt maturity structure. The empirical results show that there are differences in the impact of these factors on the debt maturity structures in state-owned enterprises and non-state enterprises listed on the Vietnam stock market. The findings of this article are useful for business administrators, helping business managers make the right financial decisions to determine the target debt maturity structure in enterprises.

The study examines the effects of growth opportunities, debt maturity and liquidity risk on leverage, making use of a large panel of Chinese listed firms. Research on capital structure has broadened its scope from a single capital structure decision (the debt/equity choice) to various attributes of the debt in firms’ capital structure. We use the system Generalized Method of Moments estimator to control for unobserved heterogeneity and the potential endogeneity of regressors. We find a negative relationship between growth opportunities and leverage. Further, we find that while the proportion of short-term debt attenuates the negative effect of growth opportunities on leverage, it negatively affects leverage as predicted by the liquidity risk hypothesis. When we distinguish between state owned firms and private controlled firms, we find evidence that these effects are only relevant to private controlled firms. However, our analysis indicates that the economic implication of liquidity risk effect is much lower for Chinese firms than that observed in the literature for US firms. Our study suggests that these differences can be explained by differences in the institutional environment in which firms operate. This finding related to Diamond’s (1991) liquidity risk hypothesis extends our understanding of the relationship between liquidity risk and the debt maturity choice.

기업재무분야에 있어 최적의 자본구조에 관한 내용은 주된 이슈이자 관심분야로 남아있다. 즉, 최적의 자본조달 형태의 결정은 기업의 현금흐름에 대한 유동성을 확보하고, 나아가 기업의 재무건전성과 자금조달의 토대인 기업가치 극대화에까지 영향을 미치게 된다. 이러한 관점에서 국내외 많은 연구자들은 부채만기의 결정에 관해 실증하고자 하였으나, 개별 산업적 특성이 분명하게 존재함에도 불구하고 이를 충분히 반영하지 못하는 한계점들을 내포하고 있다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 선박확보라는 주요 자본조달 의사결정이 요구되고 있는 국적외항선사들을 중심으로 부채만기결정요인에 대해 살펴보고자 하였으며, 연구결과 기업의 규모, 자산의 만기, 유동성, 성장옵션, 기업의 우량성이 해운기업의 부채만기와 관련성이 있는 것으로 나타났다. 특히, 성장옵션의 경우 부채만기와 부(-)의 관계가 존재하였으며, 세금과 레버리지는 부채의 만기와 관계가 없는 것으로 분석되었다.