What does this research mean for the field?

Increases in external uncertainty cause firms to significantly increase their use of leasing, particularly among firms with lower liquidity, as a strategic mechanism to preserve capital and maintain operational agility. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.INCREMENTAL. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

To investigate whether and how non-financial corporations use asset leasing as a strategic mechanism to mitigate risk and safeguard liquidity during volatile economic conditions.

August 29, 2026Review of Managerial ScienceOpen Access

Leasing as a strategic response to uncertainty: how firms mitigate risk and preserve liquidity

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Authors

LCLidong ChenCity University of Hong Kong LZLin ZhangJilin Provincial Academy of Forestry Science

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Implication

Econometric analysis reveals heightened uncertainty increases asset leasing among US firms, indicating leasing functions as a mechanism to preserve liquidity and operational agility.

Key Points

To investigate whether and how non-financial corporations use asset leasing as a strategic mechanism to mitigate risk and safeguard liquidity during volatile economic conditions.
Analyzed firm-level financial data from U.S. corporations across periods of shifting volatility.
Employed instrumental variable regressions exploiting exogenous shocks to establish the causal relationship between uncertainty and corporate leasing.
A one standard deviation increase in uncertainty increased firm leasing by 6.65 percentage points.
The positive impact of uncertainty on leasing adoption was significantly stronger for firms operating with lower baseline liquidity reserves.

Cite This Study

Chen et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a9299db8e5d7d1fc0c12119 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-026-01060-7

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Implication

Econometric analysis reveals heightened uncertainty increases asset leasing among US firms, indicating leasing functions as a mechanism to preserve liquidity and operational agility.

Leasing as a strategic response to uncertainty: how firms mitigate risk and preserve liquidity

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

Leasing as a strategic response to uncertainty: how firms mitigate risk and preserve liquidity

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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Also Consider