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Beyond Dichotomy: The Curvilinear Impact of Employee Ownership on Firm Performance

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  • Zied Guedri
  • Xavier Hollandts

Abstract

Manuscript type: Empirical Research Question/Issue: This study examines the impact of employee stock ownership and board employee representation on firm performance. Research Findings/Results: Results drawn from a longitudinal analysis of a sample of 230 French firms over the period 2000–2005 provide support for an inverted U‐shaped relationship between employee ownership and accounting‐based performance measures. However, this relationship is not supported when a market‐based performance measure is used. We also found that the inflection point of the inverted U‐shaped relationship between employee ownership and firm performance does not depend upon the level of employee representation on the board. Theoretical Implications: This study addresses the inconsistency of results found so far in the literature examining the performance implications of employee ownership by proposing a theoretical framework and providing empirical support for the hypothesis suggesting that the relationship between employee ownership and firm performance is not linear, but indeed, has an inverted U‐shape. Practical Implications: In a governance context characterized by a spectacular increase in employee ownership fostered by a pervasive support from both managers and government, our results suggest that performance implications of employee ownership are positive up to a certain point, after which the marginal effect of employee ownership on firm performance becomes negative. As a result, our findings suggest that managers and shareholders should be careful when launching and increasing the level of employee ownership to not go beyond specific inflection points.

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  • Zied Guedri & Xavier Hollandts, 2008. "Beyond Dichotomy: The Curvilinear Impact of Employee Ownership on Firm Performance," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(5), pages 460-474, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:corgov:v:16:y:2008:i:5:p:460-474
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8683.2008.00703.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Xavier Hollandts & Zied Guedri & Nicolas Aubert, 2011. "Les déterminants de la représentation des actionnaires salariés au Conseil d’administration ou de surveillance," Post-Print halshs-01256775, HAL.
    2. JChristophe Estay & C. Lakshman & IJacques-Olivier Pesme, 2011. "Profit sharing in the nineteenth century: history of a controversial remuneration system," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 7(2), pages 23-41, February.
    3. Aubert, Nicolas & Kern, Alexander & Hollandts, Xavier, 2017. "Employee stock ownership and the cost of capital11We are grateful to the Editor in Chief, Thomas Lagoarde-Segot and to participants at 2016 French accounting association conference, 2015 French financ," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 67-78.
    4. KATO Takao & MIYAJIMA Hideaki & OWAN Hideo, 2016. "Does Employee Stock Ownership Work? Evidence from publicly-traded firms in Japan," Discussion papers 16073, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    5. Aubert, Nicolas & Garnotel, Guillaume & Lapied, André & Rousseau, Patrick, 2014. "Employee ownership: A theoretical and empirical investigation of management entrenchment vs. reward management," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 423-434.
    6. Park, Heejin & Noh, Jung-Hee & Pedersen, Melissa & Lee, Sora, 2022. "What are the determinants and managerial motivations for employee ownership in retirement pension plans?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    7. Nicolas Aubert & Alexander Kern & Xavier Hollandts, 2017. "Employee stock ownership and the cost of capital," Post-Print halshs-01502001, HAL.
    8. Xavier Hollandts & Nicolas Aubert, 2019. "La gouvernance salariale : contribution de la représentation des salariés à la gouvernance d’entreprise," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 22(1), pages 63-88, March.
    9. Steger, Thomas & Schubert, Christoph & Beisigel, Christina & Dietrich, Madeleine, 2019. "Mitarbeiterkapitalbeteiligung in KMU: Die Perspektive der Mitarbeiter/innen," Working Paper Forschungsförderung 129, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf.
    10. Steen Thomsen & Caspar Rose & Dorte Kronborg, 2016. "Employee representation and board size in the Nordic countries," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 471-490, December.
    11. Mehdi Nekhili & Amal Boukadhaba & Haithem Nagati, 2021. "The ESG–financial performance relationship: Does the type of employee board representation matter?," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 134-161, March.
    12. Xavier Hollandts & Nicolas Aubert & Abdelmehdi Abdelhamid & Victor Prieur, 2017. "Beyond Dichotomy: The Curvilinear Impact of Employee Ownership on CEO entrenchment," Working Papers halshs-01495427, HAL.
    13. Ansgar Richter & Susanne Schrader, 2017. "Levels of Employee Share Ownership and the Performance of Listed Companies in Europe," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 55(2), pages 396-420, June.
    14. Ariefianto, Moch. Doddy & Trinugroho, Irwan & Yustika, Ahmad Erani & Soedarmono, Wahyoe, 2020. "The Role of Business Sophistication, Revenue Diversification, and Labor Relations on Firm Financing Choice," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 54(3), pages 101-115.
    15. Chung, Won Young & Lee, Jae-Gil & Seo, Jaeun & Kim, Jaeyun & Jo, Yuri & Lee, Daeho, 2022. "From whom should ICT startups raise capital? The effect of ownership structure on efficiency in new ICT startups," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 82-91.
    16. Fareeha Waseem & Syeda Fizza Abbas & Anum Farooq, 2022. "Nexus of Employee Stock Ownership with Cost of Capital: Evidence from KSE 100," iRASD Journal of Management, International Research Alliance for Sustainable Development (iRASD), vol. 4(1), pages 38-50, March.
    17. Thierry Poulain-Rehm & Xavier Lepers, 2012. "Does Employee Ownership Benefit Value Creation? The Case of France (2001–2005)," Post-Print hal-01382074, HAL.
    18. Georgeta Vintila & tefan Cristian Gherghina, 2015. "Does Ownership Structure Influence Firm Value? An Empirical Research towards the Bucharest Stock Exchange Listed Companies," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 5(2), pages 501-514.
    19. Thierry Poulain-Rehm & Xavier Lepers, 2013. "Does Employee Ownership Benefit Value Creation? The Case of France (2001–2005)," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 112(2), pages 325-340, January.
    20. Florackis, Chris & Kanas, Angelos & Kostakis, Alexandros, 2015. "Dividend policy, managerial ownership and debt financing: A non-parametric perspective," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 241(3), pages 783-795.
    21. Dasilas, Apostolos, 2024. "The nonlinear relationship between employee stock ownership plans and firm performance: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    22. Nekhili, Mehdi & Nagati, Haithem & Chtioui, Tawhid & Rebolledo, Claudia, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility disclosure and market value: Family versus nonfamily firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 41-52.
    23. Xavier Hollandts & Nicolas Aubert & Abdelmehdi Ben Abdelhamid & Victor Prieur, 2018. "Beyond Dichotomy: The Curvilinear Impact of Employee Ownership on CEO entrenchment," Post-Print halshs-01495427, HAL.
    24. Abdelnour Joseph & Aubert Nicolas & Campa Domenico, 2022. "Does employee ownership decrease agency costs? Evidence from French listed companies [L'actionnariat salarié réduit-il les coûts d'agence? Le cas des entreprises françaises cotées]," Post-Print hal-03723164, HAL.

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