IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/abacus/v60y2024i2p236-271.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is One Head Better Than Two? Dual Leadership and Firm Performance During the COVID‐19 Crisis

Author

Listed:
  • Md Reiazul Haque
  • Md Lutfur Rahman
  • Mohammed Abdullah Al Mamun

Abstract

We provide novel evidence on the value of combined CEO and board chair positions (CEO duality) for firms during the COVID‐19 pandemic in 2020. Based on 4,840 firm‐quarter observations from 1,210 unique firms in the US, we show that CEO duality firms outperformed non‐duality firms by a 0.58% margin in quarterly return on assets in 2020, which is equivalent to an incremental annual net profit of US$164 million. A difference‐in‐difference estimation confirms that the benefit of CEO duality is observed only in the COVID‐19 crisis period. Our main finding is robust to potential endogeneity concerns and alternative performance measures. Additional analyses show that the positive impact of CEO duality stems from the mechanisms of operating cost savings and working capital optimization during the crisis. Our finding underscores the benefit of CEO duality when economic uncertainty is high and a speedy decision is important.

Suggested Citation

  • Md Reiazul Haque & Md Lutfur Rahman & Mohammed Abdullah Al Mamun, 2024. "Is One Head Better Than Two? Dual Leadership and Firm Performance During the COVID‐19 Crisis," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 60(2), pages 236-271, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:abacus:v:60:y:2024:i:2:p:236-271
    DOI: 10.1111/abac.12319
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/abac.12319
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/abac.12319?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Olubunmi Faleye, 2007. "Does one hat fit all? The case of corporate leadership structure," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 11(3), pages 239-259, September.
    2. Adachi-Sato, Meg & Vithessonthi, Chaiporn, 2019. "Corporate debt maturity and future firm performance volatility," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 216-237.
    3. Renee B. Adams & Benjamin E. Hermalin & Michael S. Weisbach, 2010. "The Role of Boards of Directors in Corporate Governance: A Conceptual Framework and Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(1), pages 58-107, March.
    4. James B. Wade & Charles A. O'Reilly & Timothy G. Pollock, 2006. "Overpaid CEOs and Underpaid Managers: Fairness and Executive Compensation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(5), pages 527-544, October.
    5. Hainmueller, Jens, 2012. "Entropy Balancing for Causal Effects: A Multivariate Reweighting Method to Produce Balanced Samples in Observational Studies," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 25-46, January.
    6. Hassan, M. Kabir & Houston, Reza & Karim, M.Sydul & Sabit, Ahmed, 2023. "CEO duality and firm performance during the 2020 coronavirus outbreak," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).
    7. Hausman, Jerry A & Taylor, William E, 1981. "Panel Data and Unobservable Individual Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1377-1398, November.
    8. Chi, Jianxin (Daniel) & Gupta, Manu, 2009. "Overvaluation and earnings management," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(9), pages 1652-1663, September.
    9. Larcker, David F. & Ormazabal, Gaizka & Taylor, Daniel J., 2011. "The market reaction to corporate governance regulation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(2), pages 431-448, August.
    10. Kathleen A. Bentley & Thomas C. Omer & Nathan Y. Sharp, 2013. "Business Strategy, Financial Reporting Irregularities, and Audit Effort," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(2), pages 780-817, June.
    11. Stefano Ramelli & Alexander F Wagner, 2020. "Feverish Stock Price Reactions to COVID-19," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 9(3), pages 622-655.
    12. Rui Albuquerque & Yrjo Koskinen & Shuai Yang & Chendi Zhang, 2020. "Resiliency of Environmental and Social Stocks: An Analysis of the Exogenous COVID-19 Market Crash," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 9(3), pages 593-621.
    13. Dittmar, Amy & Mahrt-Smith, Jan, 2007. "Corporate governance and the value of cash holdings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(3), pages 599-634, March.
    14. Gul, Ferdinand A. & Srinidhi, Bin & Ng, Anthony C., 2011. "Does board gender diversity improve the informativeness of stock prices?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 314-338, April.
    15. Duru, Augustine & Iyengar, Raghavan J. & Zampelli, Ernest M., 2016. "The dynamic relationship between CEO duality and firm performance: The moderating role of board independence," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 4269-4277.
    16. Jianyu Zeng & Teng Zhong & Fan He, 2020. "Economic policy uncertainty and corporate inventory holdings: evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(2), pages 1727-1757, June.
    17. Adams, Renée B. & Ferreira, Daniel, 2009. "Women in the boardroom and their impact on governance and performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 291-309, November.
    18. Antonio Falato & Dan Li & Todd Milbourn, 2015. "Which Skills Matter in the Market for CEOs? Evidence from Pay for CEO Credentials," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(12), pages 2845-2869, December.
    19. Kiyoung Chang & Junyoup Lee & Hyeongsop Shim, 2019. "CEO Duality and Firm Performance: Does Economic Policy Uncertainty Mediate the Relation?," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 19(4), pages 877-891, December.
    20. Karl V. Lins & Henri Servaes & Ane Tamayo, 2017. "Social Capital, Trust, and Firm Performance: The Value of Corporate Social Responsibility during the Financial Crisis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(4), pages 1785-1824, August.
    21. Serfling, Matthew A., 2014. "CEO age and the riskiness of corporate policies," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 251-273.
    22. Haque, Md Reiazul & Choi, Bobae & Lee, Doowon & Wright, Sue, 2022. "Insider vs. outsider CEO and firm performance: Evidence from the Covid-19 pandemic," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PA).
    23. El-Khatib, Rwan & Fogel, Kathy & Jandik, Tomas, 2015. "CEO network centrality and merger performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(2), pages 349-382.
    24. Martin Conyon & Simon Peck, 1998. "Board size and corporate performance: evidence from European countries," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(3), pages 291-304.
    25. Liu, Yu & Miletkov, Mihail K. & Wei, Zuobao & Yang, Tina, 2015. "Board independence and firm performance in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 223-244.
    26. Murray Z. Frank & Vidhan K. Goyal, 2009. "Capital Structure Decisions: Which Factors Are Reliably Important?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 38(1), pages 1-37, March.
    27. Huang, Jiekun & Kisgen, Darren J., 2013. "Gender and corporate finance: Are male executives overconfident relative to female executives?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(3), pages 822-839.
    28. Hope, Ole-Kristian & Wang, Jingjing, 2018. "Management deception, big-bath accounting, and information asymmetry: Evidence from linguistic analysis," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 33-51.
    29. Li, Minwen & Lu, Yao & Phillips, Gordon M., 2019. "CEOs and the Product Market: When Are Powerful CEOs Beneficial?," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 54(6), pages 2295-2326, December.
    30. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:2:p:623-650 is not listed on IDEAS
    31. Khaled Elsayed, 2007. "Does CEO Duality Really Affect Corporate Performance?," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(6), pages 1203-1214, November.
    32. Yang, Tina & Zhao, Shan, 2014. "CEO duality and firm performance: Evidence from an exogenous shock to the competitive environment," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 534-552.
    33. Edward I. Altman, 1968. "Financial Ratios, Discriminant Analysis And The Prediction Of Corporate Bankruptcy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(4), pages 589-609, September.
    34. Paul Guest, 2009. "The impact of board size on firm performance: evidence from the UK," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 385-404.
    35. Igan, Deniz & Mirzaei, Ali & Moore, Tomoe, 2023. "A shot in the arm: Economic support packages and firm performance during COVID-19," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    36. Tang, Jianyun, 2017. "CEO duality and firm performance: The moderating roles of other executives and blockholding outside directors," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 362-372.
    37. Ferreruela, Sandra & Mallor, Tania, 2021. "Herding in the bad times: The 2008 and COVID-19 crises," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    38. Brian K. Boyd, 1995. "CEO duality and firm performance: A contingency model," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(4), pages 301-312.
    39. Lanfear, Matthew G. & Lioui, Abraham & Siebert, Mark G., 2019. "Market anomalies and disaster risk: Evidence from extreme weather events," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    40. Luzi Hail & Mark Lang & Christian Leuz, 2020. "Reproducibility in Accounting Research: Views of the Research Community," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(2), pages 519-543, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Riaqa Mubeen & Dongping Han & Jaffar Abbas & Iftikhar Hussain, 2020. "The Effects of Market Competition, Capital Structure, and CEO Duality on Firm Performance: A Mediation Analysis by Incorporating the GMM Model Technique," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-18, April.
    2. Tutun Mukherjee & Som Sankar Sen, 2022. "Impact of CEO attributes on corporate reputation, financial performance, and corporate sustainable growth: evidence from India," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-50, December.
    3. Chengpeng Zhu & Muhammad Husnain & Saif Ullah & Muhammad Tasnim Khan & Waris Ali, 2022. "Gender Diversity and Firms’ Sustainable Performance: Moderating Role of CEO Duality in Emerging Equity Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-26, June.
    4. Franco Ernesto Rubino & Paolo Tenuta & Domenico Rocco Cambrea, 2017. "Board characteristics effects on performance in family and non-family business: a multi-theoretical approach," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 21(3), pages 623-658, September.
    5. Naeem Tabassum & Satwinder Singh, 2020. "Corporate Governance and Organisational Performance," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-030-48527-6, April.
    6. McGuinness, Paul B., 2021. "Board member age, stock seasoning and the evolution of capital structure in Chinese firms," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(3).
    7. Akbar, Muhammad & Hussain, Shahzad & Ahmad, Tanveer & Hassan, Shoib, 2020. "Corporate Governance and Firm Performance in Pakistan: Dynamic Panel Estimation," CAFE Working Papers 6, Centre for Accountancy, Finance and Economics (CAFE), Birmingham City Business School, Birmingham City University.
    8. Anup Banerjee & Mattias Nordqvist & Karin Hellerstedt, 2020. "The role of the board chair—A literature review and suggestions for future research," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(6), pages 372-405, November.
    9. Goergen, Marc & Limbach, Peter & Scholz-Daneshgari, Meik, 2020. "Firms' rationales for CEO duality: Evidence from a mandatory disclosure regulation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    10. Hsu, Shufang & Lin, Shih-Wei & Chen, Wei-Peng & Huang, Jhao-Wei, 2021. "CEO duality, information costs, and firm performance," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    11. Masanori Orihara, 2023. "COVID-19: Firm Value and Pre-Existing Corporate Governance Regulations," Working Papers 2218, Waseda University, Faculty of Political Science and Economics.
    12. García, C. José & Herrero, Begoña, 2021. "Female directors, capital structure, and financial distress," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 592-601.
    13. Fan, Yaoyao & Jiang, Yuxiang & Zhang, Xuezhi & Zhou, Yue, 2019. "Women on boards and bank earnings management: From zero to hero," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 1-1.
    14. Maurizio La Rocca & Francesco Fasano & Tiziana La Rocca & Neha Neha, 2024. "Women in CEO duality and firm performance in Europe," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 28(1), pages 177-214, March.
    15. Kyung Yoon Kwon & Philip Molyneux & Livia Pancotto & Alessio Reghezza, 2024. "Banks and FinTech Acquisitions," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 65(1), pages 41-75, February.
    16. Laura Baselga-Pascual & Antonio Trujillo-Ponce & Emilia Vähämaa & Sami Vähämaa, 2018. "Ethical Reputation of Financial Institutions: Do Board Characteristics Matter?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(3), pages 489-510, March.
    17. Nadia Loukil & Ouidad Yousfi, 2022. "Do CEO’s traits matter in innovation outcomes?," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 375-403, September.
    18. Yang, Tina & Zhao, Shan, 2014. "CEO duality and firm performance: Evidence from an exogenous shock to the competitive environment," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 534-552.
    19. Berg, Tatjana & Horsch, Philipp & Schmid, Markus, 2015. "Sharing a Director with a Peer," Working Papers on Finance 1507, University of St. Gallen, School of Finance.
    20. Md Arafat Hossain & Elaine Yen Nee Oon, 2022. "Board leadership, board meeting frequency and firm performance in two‐tier boards," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(3), pages 862-879, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:abacus:v:60:y:2024:i:2:p:236-271. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley-Blackwell Digital Licensing or Christopher F. Baum (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0001-3072 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.