Can the CEO reverse the increasing leverage of listed firms in Nigeria?

This paper examines the influence of chief executive officers on leverage decisions of listed firms in Nigeria for a period of 10 years (2012-2021). In this paper, chief executive officer is proxied by three characteristics (overconfidence, age, and gender) while leverage is proxied by leverage ratio. We use panel data for 116 companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group. The results of our study reveal that chief executive officer’s overconfidence and gender are positively and significantly related to leverage. However, chief executive officer’s age is negatively and significantly associated with leverage. These findings are of interest to researchers, policymakers, regulators and scholars. Furthermore, these findings are useful to investors and corporate boards. Our study contributes to research into leverage by examining a different dimension, that is, the influence of chief executive officer on financial leverage. However, like other empirical works, this paper’s findings are limited to firms listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group. Also, in view of the listing requirements which make way for transparency and accountability, we sampled only listed companies. In addition, we were unable to consider all related factors affecting financial leverage