Understanding Corporate Borrowings Literatures: A Systematic Literature Review and Bibliometric Approach

Abstract

Corporate borrowings being a significant driver of firm’s performance and value, have garnered the attention of scholars across the globe. Further, efforts have also been exerted by the scholar community to analyse its determinants as well as its effect on firm performance and value. In this context, this study aims to explore the key areas, most influential authors, widely used keywords, most studied countries and also suggests future research directions in the field of corporate borrowings. This study has used a systematic literature review methodology and bibliometric analysis with a sample of 708 studies taken from both Scopus and Web of Science database over the period from 1994 to 2022. Though these studies have been attempted throughout the world but majority of countries are the new participant in the field of corporate borrowings. The sluggish growth of literature in this field is due to lack of collaboration, focus on cross-country analysis, inter-industry comparison and focus on small firm. Further, the study reveals that though some areas like Capital structure, Debt maturity and Corporate debt have been amply addressed but areas like Cost of debt, Credit risk, Debt structure, Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG), Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU), Information asymmetry, Corporate bonds and Ownership structure have been given very least attention which can be studied as a future research agenda.