Customer Concentration and Trade Credit: the Moderating Role of Operational Risk and Financial Leverage

Today, customer satisfaction plays an essential role in achieving organizational goals. Major customers are among the most important assets of organizations. The amount of credit paid to customers can be a factor in affecting customer satisfaction. The present study aims at investigating the association between customer concentration and trade credit with particular focus on the moderating role of operational risk and financial leverage, in the firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. The research hypotheses were built on the financial information of 88 listed firms during the years 2013-2017, and then were tested using Eviews and multivariate regression model based on panel data. The results reveal that customer concentration improves trade credit offered to customers. Moreover, the findings indicate that customer concentration exerts greater influence on the trade credit paid to customers in the firms with higher operational risk, and exerts greater influence on the trade credit paid to customers in the firms with higher financial leverage.