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Management friendship and insider opportunism

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  • Pham, Man Duy (Marty)

Abstract

This study documents a significant increase in both trading activity and profitability of opportunistic top managers when a CEO develops a strong connection with subordinate executives through co-opting the executives who share social ties with him/her. This baseline evidence is robust to endogeneity concerns, alternative measures of management connection and insider opportunism, as well as controlling for other CEO and board attributes. Further analyses reveal that interpersonal connections between top managers are more likely to increase opportunistic insider trading in firms with lower-quality voluntary disclosures, more sociable executives, and relaxing legal barriers to insider trades. Increased insider opportunism in response to the CEO’s connection with other top executives engenders less informative stock prices and depresses stock market liquidity. Finally, insider trades in firms with stronger management connection are more predictive of future stock returns.

Suggested Citation

  • Pham, Man Duy (Marty), 2022. "Management friendship and insider opportunism," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:finana:v:84:y:2022:i:c:s1057521922003659
    DOI: 10.1016/j.irfa.2022.102415
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Insider trading; Management connection; Corporate governance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies
    • M54 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Labor Management

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