Do Reputable Underwriters Affect the Sustainability of Newly Listed Firms? Evidence from South Korea

Abstract

This study empirically examined whether underwriters’ reputations affect the sustainability of newly listed firms, focusing on firm delisting risk using survival analysis. It was hypothesized that newly listed firms with more reputable underwriters would prove more sustainable, and this hypothesis was tested using a sample of firms that were newly listed on the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the Korea Securities Dealers Association Automated Quotation (KOSDAQ) markets in South Korea between 2001 and 2012. The data collected and used to test the aforementioned hypothesis were from 2001 to 2017. The analysis showed that newly listed firms with more reputable underwriters have lower delisting risk. This implies that newly listed firms with more reputable underwriters enjoy greater sustainability. This study meaningfully contributes to sustainability research by rationally explaining why underwriters’ incentives to maintain their reputations improve newly listed firms’ business and financial status. This study differs from other management studies in that it produced meaningful results using survival analysis, which has not been widely used in conventional management studies. Its findings also contribute in terms of identifying the possibility that underwriters’ reputations can be used as a predictor of the possibility of delisting newly listed companies.