The net impact of these two effects would determine the sign of the relationship
between managerial ownership and cash holdings. To test the hypothesised
non-linear nature of the relationship between cash holdings and managerial ownership
we estimate a cubic model that implies two turning points. That is, as managerial
ownership increases, we expect to observe first a negative (incentive-alignment),
then a positive (entrenchment) effect exerted by managerial ownership on cash holdings.
In addition, our cubic specification allows the possibility that the relationship
becomes negative again at high levels of managerial ownership. This can happen because
managerial interests are more likely to converge to those of shareholders as
managers’ stake in the firm increases to substantially high levels.