Traditional or behavioural? A combined decision making trial and evaluation laboratory and analytic network process approach for capital structure determinants of Turkish companies

The aim of this study, following a new approach under the irrationality of managers, is to investigate the most effective determinants of capital structure decisions by combining traditional capital structure determinants with managerial-behavioural biases. In line with this objective, considering the capital structure decision as one that employs multicriteria decision making, two of the multicriteria decision-making methods-namely, Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and Analytic Network Process (ANP)-are integrated into a hybrid method to analyse the interdependent relationships among traditional capital structure determinants and managerial-behavioural biases and to prioritize them by making dual comparisons. Our findings show that managerial-behavioural biases, not traditional capital structure determinants, are more effective in the capital structure decision and that anchoring is the most influential among managerial-behavioural biases.