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Journals / Iğdır Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi / 2026 / Sayı: 42

Short- and Long-Run Effects of Financial Policy Decisions on Firm Performance in the Healthcare Sector: Panel ARDL Evidence from UK Long-Term Care Providers

Sağlık Sektöründe Finansal Politika Kararlarının Firma Performansına Kısa ve Uzun Dönemli Etkileri: Birleşik Krallık Bakım Hizmeti Sağlayıcılarından Panel ARDL Kanıtları

Tuba Aralan(ŞIRNAK ÜNİVERSİTESİ)0000-0002-1739-921X
Hamza Sığırcı(KARAMANOĞLU MEHMETBEY ÜNİVERSİTESİ)0000-0001-5975-3961
Pages
325–352
Publication Date
2026-05-19
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AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

In conclusion, these findings highlight the strategic importance of investment, capital structure, and liquidity management policies for ensuring the long-term financial stability of healthcare organisations.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:The healthcare sector occupies a distinctive position in the corporate landscape.
📊
Key Findings & Data:The capital-intensive operations, stringent regulatory constraints and sustained investment requirements in the medical sector of the company are such that the financial management decisions made have a particularly visible impact on firm performance.
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Conclusion & Impact:In conclusion, these findings highlight the strategic importance of investment, capital structure, and liquidity management policies for ensuring the long-term financial stability of healthcare organisations.
🔬Design:Lab & Field Experiment
📍Scope:2005 Verileri
⚙️Variables:Finansal Performans · Panel ARDL · Finansal Kaldıraç

Abstract

The healthcare sector occupies a distinctive position in the corporate landscape. The capital-intensive operations, stringent regulatory constraints and sustained investment requirements in the medical sector of the company are such that the financial management decisions made have a particularly visible impact on firm performance. This study utilises annual data from eight publicly listed long-term care providers in the United Kingdom from 2005 to 2024, with the objective of examining the short- and long-term effects of fixed-asset investment, financial leverage, cash holdings and firm size on four performance metrics: return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), earnings per share (EPS) and EBITDA margin. The Pesaran (2004) CD test and the Pesaran–Yamagata (2008) delta test have been utilised to confirm the existence of cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity in the panel, thereby rendering first-generation estimators inappropriate. The analysis therefore employs the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) estimator within a Panel ARDL framework. This is preceded by PANIC unit root tests and Durbin–Hausman cointegration analysis, which establish the stationarity and long-run properties of the series. Long-run estimates reveal that fixed-asset investment consistently has a positive impact on all four metrics. Financial leverage improves ROA, ROE and EBITDA, but has a negative effect on EPS. While cash holdings support the first three indicators, they reduce the EBITDA margin, which is consistent with the optimal cash threshold hypothesis. Firm size is positively associated with EPS and EBITDA, but negatively with ROE. This suggests that, beyond a certain scale, increasing organisational complexity begins to reduce equity-based returns. Error-correction coefficients are negative and statistically significant in all models, and the mean adjustment speed of 72.32 per cent indicates that shocks to financial performance dissipate rather than accumulate. In conclusion, these findings highlight the strategic importance of investment, capital structure, and liquidity management policies for ensuring the long-term financial stability of healthcare organisations.

Özet

Sağlık sektörü sermaye yoğun yapısı, katı düzenleyici çerçevesi ve kesintisiz tıbbi yatırım zorunlulukları nedeniyle finansal yönetim kararlarının firma performansı üzerindeki etkisinin en belirgin biçimde ortaya çıktığı sektörlerin başında gelmektedir.Bu doğrultuda çalışma, Birleşik Krallık’ta uzun süreli bakım hizmetleri alanında faaliyet gösteren sekiz halka açık sağlık firmasının 2005-2024 dönemine ait yıllık verilerini kullanarak sabit varlık yatırımı, finansal kaldıraç, nakit bulundurma oranı ve firma büyüklüğünün dört temel finansal performans göstergesi (ROA, ROE, EPS ve EBITDA marjı) üzerindeki kısa ve uzun dönemli etkilerini incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Analiz sürecinde gerçekleştirilen Pesaran (2004) CD testi ile Pesaran–Yamagata (2008) delta testi sonuçları, panel veri setinde yatay kesit bağımlılığı ve eğim heterojenliğinin varlığını ortaya koymuştur. Bulgular doğrultusunda birinci nesil panel veri tahmincilerinin uygun olmadığı değerlendirilmiştir. Bu nedenle, çalışma kapsamında Panel ARDL yaklaşımı çerçevesinde Havuzlanmış Ortalama Grup (PMG) tahmincisi tercih edilmiştir. Model tahminlerinden önce PANIC birim kök testleri ve Durbin–Hausman eşbütünleşme testi uygulanarak serilerin durağanlık ve uzun dönem ilişkileri analiz edilmiştir. Uzun dönem bulguları, sabit varlık yatırımlarının tüm finansal performans göstergeleri üzerinde istikrarlı ve pozitif bir etki yarattığını ortaya koykoymuştur. Finansal kaldıraç; ROA, ROE ve EBITDA marjını artırırken EPS üzerinde negatif yönlü etki tespit edilmiştir. Optimal nakit eşiği hipoteziyle paralel olarak nakit bulundurma oranının ROA, ROE ve EPS göstergelerini desteklediği, ancak EBITDA marjını daralttığı tespit edilmiştir. Firma büyüklüğünün EPS ve EBITDA üzerinde pozitif, ROE üzerinde ise negatif etkisinin tespit edilmesi, belirli bir ölçek düzeyinin aşılmasıyla birlikte azalan getiri dinamiklerinin ortaya çıkabileceği şeklinde değerlendirilmektedir. Ayrıca, tüm modellerde hata düzeltme katsayılarının negatif ve istatistiksel olarak anlamlı olması, kısa dönem sapmalarının uzun dönemde dengeye yöneldiğini göstermektedir. Ortalama uyum hızının %72,32 düzeyinde gerçekleşmesi ise sektörde meydana gelen şokların kalıcı nitelik taşımadığını ortaya koymaktadır. Sonuç olarak bulgular, sağlık işletmelerinde yatırım, sermaye yapısı ve likidite yönetimi politikalarının uzun vadeli finansal istikrarın teminindeki stratejik önemini kanıtlamaktadır.

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Cite This Article

Aralan, T., Sığırcı, H. (2026). Short- and Long-Run Effects of Financial Policy Decisions on Firm Performance in the Healthcare Sector: Panel ARDL Evidence from UK Long-Term Care Providers. Iğdır Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, Sayı: 42, 325–352. https://doi.org/10.54600/igdirsosbilder.1873417

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