IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jfnres/v47y2024i1p123-146.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The causal effect of corporate governance on employee satisfaction

Author

Listed:
  • Marco Menner
  • Frederic Menninger

Abstract

We investigate the causal effect of increasing shareholder rights on employee satisfaction. To ensure causality, we use close shareholder votes on antitakeover provisions included in the Entrenchment Index (E‐Index) as exogenous shocks to the corporate governance of a company. A 1‐point increase in shareholder rights on the E‐Index scale causes a 10% decrease in employee satisfaction. The channels that drive our results are decreases in employees' opinion about firm culture, in their view about the company's CEO, in the number of employees, and in capital expenditures.

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Menner & Frederic Menninger, 2024. "The causal effect of corporate governance on employee satisfaction," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 47(1), pages 123-146, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jfnres:v:47:y:2024:i:1:p:123-146
    DOI: 10.1111/jfir.12350
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jfir.12350
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jfir.12350?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. Stein, Jeremy C, 1988. "Takeover Threats and Managerial Myopia," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(1), pages 61-80, February.
    2. Henrik Cronqvist & Fredrik Heyman & Mattias Nilsson & Helena Svaleryd & Jonas Vlachos, 2009. "Do Entrenched Managers Pay Their Workers More?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(1), pages 309-339, February.
    3. Ertimur, Yonca & Ferri, Fabrizio & Stubben, Stephen R., 2010. "Board of directors' responsiveness to shareholders: Evidence from shareholder proposals," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 53-72, February.
    4. Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2003. "Enjoying the Quiet Life? Corporate Governance and Managerial Preferences," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(5), pages 1043-1075, October.
    5. Bebchuk, Lucian A. & Cohen, Alma & Wang, Charles C.Y., 2013. "Learning and the disappearing association between governance and returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(2), pages 323-348.
    6. David S. Lee & Thomas Lemieux, 2010. "Regression Discontinuity Designs in Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(2), pages 281-355, June.
    7. Laurent Bach & Daniel Metzger, 2019. "How Close Are Close Shareholder Votes?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(8), pages 3183-3214.
    8. Luigi Zingales, 2000. "In Search of New Foundations," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1623-1653, August.
    9. Giroud, Xavier & Mueller, Holger M., 2010. "Does corporate governance matter in competitive industries?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(3), pages 312-331, March.
    10. Lucian Bebchuk & Alma Cohen & Allen Ferrell, 2009. "What Matters in Corporate Governance?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(2), pages 783-827, February.
    11. Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Rajgopal, Shiva, 2005. "The economic implications of corporate financial reporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1-3), pages 3-73, December.
    12. McCrary, Justin, 2008. "Manipulation of the running variable in the regression discontinuity design: A density test," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 698-714, February.
    13. Vicente Cuñat & Mireia Gine & Maria Guadalupe, 2012. "The Vote Is Cast: The Effect of Corporate Governance on Shareholder Value," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(5), pages 1943-1977, October.
    14. Jonathan M. Karpoff & Michael D. Wittry, 2018. "Institutional and Legal Context in Natural Experiments: The Case of State Antitakeover Laws," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 73(2), pages 657-714, April.
    15. Paul Gompers & Joy Ishii & Andrew Metrick, 2003. "Corporate Governance and Equity Prices," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(1), pages 107-156.
    16. Miguel A. Ferreira & Paul A. Laux, 2007. "Corporate Governance, Idiosyncratic Risk, and Information Flow," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(2), pages 951-989, April.
    17. Ioana Marinescu & Nadav Klein & Andrew Chamberlain & Morgan Smart, 2018. "Incentives Can Reduce Bias in Online Reviews," Working Papers id:12575, eSocialSciences.
    18. Huang, Minjie & Li, Pingshu & Meschke, Felix & Guthrie, James P., 2015. "Family firms, employee satisfaction, and corporate performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 108-127.
    19. Hales, Jeffrey & Moon, James R. & Swenson, Laura A., 2018. "A new era of voluntary disclosure? Empirical evidence on how employee postings on social media relate to future corporate disclosures," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 68, pages 88-108.
    20. Edmans, Alex, 2011. "Does the stock market fully value intangibles? Employee satisfaction and equity prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 621-640, September.
    21. Green, T. Clifton & Huang, Ruoyan & Wen, Quan & Zhou, Dexin, 2019. "Crowdsourced employer reviews and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(1), pages 236-251.
    22. Gerald T. Garvey & Gordon Hanka, 1999. "Capital Structure and Corporate Control: The Effect of Antitakeover Statutes on Firm Leverage," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(2), pages 519-546, April.
    23. Symitsi, Efthymia & Stamolampros, Panagiotis & Daskalakis, George, 2018. "Employees’ online reviews and equity prices," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 53-55.
    24. Matias D. Cattaneo & Michael Jansson & Xinwei Ma, 2018. "Manipulation testing based on density discontinuity," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 18(1), pages 234-261, March.
    25. Cullen F. Goenner, 2008. "Investing in Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work for in America," Journal of Economic Insight, Missouri Valley Economic Association, vol. 34(1), pages 1-19.
    26. Jing Li & Richard Pike & Roszaini Haniffa, 2008. "Intellectual capital disclosure and corporate governance structure in UK firms," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(2), pages 137-159.
    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. Barnes, Spencer & Cheng, Yingmei, 2023. "Employee approval of CEOs and firm value: Evidence from Employees' choice awards," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    2. Guernsey, Scott & Sepe, Simone M. & Serfling, Matthew, 2022. "Blood in the water: The value of antitakeover provisions during market shocks," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(3), pages 1070-1096.
    3. Balasingham Balachandran & Huu Nhan Duong & Tony van Zijl & Arfian Erma Zudana, 2023. "Does the threat of takeover affect default risk?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(9-10), pages 1572-1611, October.
    4. Vicente Cuñat & Mireia Giné & Maria Guadalupe, 2020. "Price and Probability: Decomposing the Takeover Effects of Anti‐Takeover Provisions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(5), pages 2591-2629, October.
    5. Caroline Flammer & Pratima Bansal, 2017. "Does a long-term orientation create value? Evidence from a regression discontinuity," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(9), pages 1827-1847, September.
    6. Harford, Jarrad & Kecskés, Ambrus & Mansi, Sattar, 2018. "Do long-term investors improve corporate decision making?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 424-452.
    7. Chen, Dong, 2012. "Classified boards, the cost of debt, and firm performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 3346-3365.
    8. Ni, Xiaoran, 2020. "Does stakeholder orientation matter for earnings management: Evidence from non-shareholder constituency statutes," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    9. Caroline Flammer, 2015. "Does Corporate Social Responsibility Lead to Superior Financial Performance? A Regression Discontinuity Approach," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(11), pages 2549-2568, November.
    10. Bhargava, Rahul & Faircloth, Sheri & Zeng, Hongchao, 2017. "Takeover protection and stock price crash risk: Evidence from state antitakeover laws," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 177-184.
    11. Vicente Cuñat & Mireia Gine & Maria Guadalupe, 2012. "The Vote Is Cast: The Effect of Corporate Governance on Shareholder Value," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(5), pages 1943-1977, October.
    12. Jiao, Yawen, 2010. "Stakeholder welfare and firm value," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 2549-2561, October.
    13. Drobetz, W. & Momtaz, Paul P., 2020. "Antitakeover Provisions and Firm Value: New Evidence from the M&A Market," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    14. Ee, Mong Shan & Hasan, Iftekhar & Huang, He, 2022. "Stock liquidity and corporate labor investment," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    15. Ahluwalia, Saurabh & Ferrell, Linda & Ferrell, O.C. & Gandhi, Priyank, 2024. "Does being ethical pay? Evidence from the implementation of SOX Section 406," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    16. Gine, Mireia & Moussawi, Rabih & Sedunov, John, 2017. "Governance mechanisms and effective activism: Evidence from shareholder proposals on poison pills," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 185-202.
    17. Ghaly, Mohamed & Dang, Viet Anh & Stathopoulos, Konstantinos, 2020. "Institutional investors' horizons and corporate employment decisions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    18. Borgers, Arian & Derwall, Jeroen & Koedijk, Kees & ter Horst, Jenke, 2013. "Stakeholder relations and stock returns: On errors in investors' expectations and learning," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 159-175.
    19. Tu Nguyen & H.G. (Lily) Nguyen & Xiangkang Yin, 2015. "Corporate Governance and Corporate Financing and Investment during the 2007-2008 Financial Crisis," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 44(1), pages 115-146, March.
    20. Erin E. Smith, 2019. "Are Antitakeover Amendments Good for Shareholders? Evidence from the Adoption of Antitakeover Provisions in the Post-SOX Era," Quarterly Journal of Finance (QJF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 9(04), pages 1-40, December.

    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:jfnres:v:47:y:2024:i:1:p:123-146. 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 Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sfaaaea.html .

    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.