IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/bejeap/v18y2018i2p11n7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Are Busy Directors Harmful or Helpful? Evidence from the Great Recession

Author

Listed:
  • Withisuphakorn Pradit

    (National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA), Bangkok, Thailand)

  • Jiraporn Pornsit

    (School of Graduate Professional Studies, Pennsylvania State University, 30 E. Swedesford Road, Malvern, PA16802-1503, USA)

Abstract

We contribute to the debate on the costs and benefits of busy directors by investigating the effect of busy directors on firm value during a stressful time, i. e. during the Great Recession. Our results show that busy directors improve firm value significantly during the financial crisis. In particular, a rise in directors’ busyness by one standard deviation results in an improvement in Tobin’s q by 6.41 %. Directors with multiple board seats appear to help firms navigate the crisis more successfully, supporting the notion that multiple board seats signal higher quality. Outside the crisis period, however, we find that busy directors reduce firm value, consistent with many prior studies. Our results are crucial as they show that governance mechanisms function differently during stressful times than they do during normal times. Firms should exercise great caution before imposing limits on outside board seats on their directors.

Suggested Citation

  • Withisuphakorn Pradit & Jiraporn Pornsit, 2018. "Are Busy Directors Harmful or Helpful? Evidence from the Great Recession," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 18(2), pages 1-11, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:18:y:2018:i:2:p:11:n:7
    DOI: 10.1515/bejeap-2017-0249
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/bejeap-2017-0249
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/bejeap-2017-0249?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jiraporn, Pornsit & Davidson III, Wallace N. & DaDalt, Peter & Ning, Yixi, 2009. "Too busy to show up? An analysis of directors' absences," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 1159-1171, August.
    2. James H. Stock & Mark W. Watson, 2008. "Heteroskedasticity-Robust Standard Errors for Fixed Effects Panel Data Regression," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 76(1), pages 155-174, January.
    3. Ira C. Harris & Katsuhiko Shimizu, 2004. "Too Busy To Serve? An Examination of the Influence of Overboarded Directors," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5), pages 775-798, July.
    4. Ahn, Seoungpil & Jiraporn, Pornsit & Kim, Young Sang, 2010. "Multiple directorships and acquirer returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 2011-2026, September.
    5. 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.
    6. Field, Laura & Lowry, Michelle & Mkrtchyan, Anahit, 2013. "Are busy boards detrimental?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(1), pages 63-82.
    7. Elyasiani, Elyas & Zhang, Ling, 2015. "Bank holding company performance, risk, and “busy” board of directors," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 239-251.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Suwongrat Papangkorn & Pattanaporn Chatjuthamard & Pornsit Jiraporn & Sirisak Chueykamhang, 2021. "Female directors and firm performance: Evidence from the Great Recession," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 21(2), pages 598-610, June.
    2. Nattarinee Denlertchaikul & Pattanaporn Chatjuthamard & Pornsit Jiraporn & Piyachart Phiromswad, 2022. "The Interaction Effect of Text-Based Corporate Innovation and Economic Policy Uncertainty on Firm Performance," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(4), pages 21582440221, November.
    3. Chatjuthamard, Pattanaporn & Wongboonsin, Patcharawalai & Kongsompong, Kritika & Jiraporn, Pornsit, 2020. "How do socially controversial companies do during a stressful time? Evidence from the Great Recession," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    4. Kim, Keunyoung, 2022. "When are busy boards beneficial?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 437-454.
    5. Sirimon Treepongkaruna & Khine Kyaw & Pornsit Jiraporn, 2024. "ESG controversies and corporate governance: Evidence from board size," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5), pages 4218-4232, July.

    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. Ferris, Stephen P. & Jayaraman, Narayanan & Liao, Min-Yu (Stella), 2020. "Better directors or distracted directors? An international analysis of busy boards," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    2. James, Hui Liang & Wang, Hongxia & Xie, Yamin, 2018. "Busy directors and firm performance: Does firm location matter?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 1-37.
    3. Bradley Benson & Travis Davidson & Hui James & Hongxia Wang, 2022. "Board busyness and corporate payout: are all busy directors the same?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(3), pages 3711-3759, September.
    4. Suzette Viviers & Nadia Mans-Kemp, 2019. "Director overboardedness in South Africa: evaluating the experience and busyness hypotheses," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 16(1), pages 68-81, March.
    5. Nadia Mans-Kemp & Suzette Viviers & Sian Collins, 2018. "Exploring the causes and consequences of director overboardedness in an emerging market," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 15(4), pages 210-220, November.
    6. Chen, Li-Yu & Lai, Jung-Ho & Chen, Carl R., 2015. "Multiple directorships and the performance of mergers & acquisitions," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 178-198.
    7. S. Baccouche & M. Hadriche & A. Omri, 2014. "Multiple directorships and board meeting frequency: evidence from France," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(14), pages 983-992, July.
    8. Kutubi, Shawgat S. & Ahmed, Kamran & Khan, Hayat & Garg, Mukesh, 2021. "Multiple directorships and the extent of loan loss provisions: Evidence from banks in South Asia," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3).
    9. Qi Wang & Maoxia Sun & Kongwen Wang, 2023. "Do Reputation Incentives Matter? Busy Directors and Corporate Social Responsibility in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-17, March.
    10. Mosammet Asma Jahan & Martien Lubberink & Karen Van Peursem, 2021. "Does prestigious board membership matter? Evidence from New Zealand," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(1), pages 977-1015, March.
    11. Marwa Elnahass & Kamil Omoteso & Aly Salama & Vu Quang Trinh, 2020. "Differential market valuations of board busyness across alternative banking models," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 201-238, July.
    12. Fernández Méndez, Carlos & Pathan, Shams & Arrondo García, Rubén, 2015. "Monitoring capabilities of busy and overlap directors: Evidence from Australia," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 35(PA), pages 444-469.
    13. Hasan, Iftekhar & Jackowicz, Krzysztof & Kowalewski, Oskar & Kozłowski, Łukasz, 2023. "Cultural values of parent bank board members and lending by foreign subsidiaries: The moderating role of personal traits," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    14. Sun, Jerry & Liu, Guoping, 2014. "Audit committees’ oversight of bank risk-taking," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 376-387.
    15. Etienne Redor, 2016. "Board attributes and shareholder wealth in mergers and acquisitions: a survey of the literature," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 20(4), pages 789-821, December.
    16. Kim, Keunyoung, 2022. "When are busy boards beneficial?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 437-454.
    17. Benson, Bradley W. & Davidson, Wallace N. & Davidson, Travis R. & Wang, Hongxia, 2015. "Do busy directors and CEOs shirk their responsibilities? Evidence from mergers and acquisitions," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 1-19.
    18. Pamela Brandes & Ravi Dharwadkar & Jonathan F. Ross & Linna Shi, 2022. "Time is of the Essence!: Retired Independent Directors’ Contributions to Board Effectiveness," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(3), pages 767-793, September.
    19. Kutubi, Shawgat S. & Ahmed, Kamran & Khan, Hayat, 2018. "Bank performance and risk-taking — Does directors' busyness matter?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 184-199.
    20. Sun, Liang, 2021. "Does the location of directors' additional positions matter? A new dimension of board structure," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    busy directors; multiple directorships; multiple board seats; corporate governance; financial crisis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

    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:bpj:bejeap:v:18:y:2018:i:2:p:11:n:7. 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: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    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.