Foreign ownership, subjective willing, and internal control level

Abstract

Foreign shareholders are essential in the capital market. The study on A-share listed firms from 2012 to 2021 examines the impact of foreign ownership on internal control and its transmission effect. Using text analysis and machine learning methods, we construct a variable named “internal control willingness” to explore the impact of subjective willingness. The findings indicate that foreign shareholding significantly enhances internal control quality, with a more pronounced effect observed in samples demonstrating a more positive internal control willingness. Moreover, foreign shareholders contribute to the invested firm's sustainable development by enhancing internal control quality. Further research demonstrates that the positive impact of foreign shareholding is more significant in firms with legal foreign shareholders, highly competitive industries, and sound legal environments. These findings can aid host country firms in more efficiently leveraging foreign resources and provide empirical evidence for opening up China's capital market and formulating foreign investment regulations.