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| The variable types | Variable meaning | Measurement methods |
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| Interpreted variables | Appropriation of funds | Other receivables/period-end total assets |
| Related party transactions | The ratio of the sum of related party transactions after removing “noise” to total assets at the end of the year |
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| Explanatory variables | Institutional investor clique’s share ratio | Identify the institutional investor clique by louvain algorithm and add the share ratios of cliques owned by the same company |
| Degree centrality | Calculate annually the degree centrality of each institution in the institutional investor clique, and then, the degree centrality of the clique is weighted by the ratio of each institution’s shareholding |
| Betweenness centrality | Calculate annually the betweenness centrality of each institution in the institutional investor clique, and then, the betweenness centrality of the clique is weighted by the ratio of each institution’s shareholding |
| Closeness centrality | Calculate annually the closeness centrality of each institution in the institutional investor clique, and then, the closeness centrality of the clique is weighted by the ratio of each institution’s shareholding |
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| Control variables | Company size | The natural logarithm of the total assets at the end of the period |
| Market value | Annual average market capitalization |
| Company age | The natural logarithm of the company’s years of existence |
| Shareholding by controlling shareholders | The share proportion of the listed company held by controlling shareholders |
| Management shareholding | The share proportion of the listed company held by the management |
| Board size | The natural logarithm of numbers of board directors |
| Separation of two rights | The difference between control and ownership |
| Number of general meetings | The number of annual general meetings of shareholders |
| Nature of the audit firm | When the company’s audit firm belongs to the “top ten,” the value is 1, and the value is 0 for other firms |
| Annual | Annual dummy variable |
| Industry | Industry dummy variables |
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| | Equity checks and balances | Ratio: the sum of the shareholding ratios of the second to ten largest shareholders to the shareholding ratio of the controlling shareholders |
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