IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jaecon/v63y2017i2p161-178.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Leaving before bad times: Does the labor market penalize preemptive director resignations?

Author

Listed:
  • Dou, Ying

Abstract

When firms experience negative events such as lawsuits or earnings restatements, their directors also suffer. But what about those who leave shortly before the events? I show that directors who leave prior to negative events experience greater declines in the number of their directorships than directors who stay through the events, but smaller declines than directors who leave after the events. These declines do not appear to be voluntary or driven by forced departures. Instead, they appear to be the results of labor market penalties. The results suggest that resigning pre-emptively does not protect directors from labor market penalties.

Suggested Citation

  • Dou, Ying, 2017. "Leaving before bad times: Does the labor market penalize preemptive director resignations?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 161-178.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaecon:v:63:y:2017:i:2:p:161-178
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2017.02.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165410117300150
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jacceco.2017.02.002?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. Masulis, Ronald W. & Wang, Cong & Xie, Fei, 2012. "Globalizing the boardroom—The effects of foreign directors on corporate governance and firm performance," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 527-554.
    2. Frederick L. Bereskin & Clifford W. Smith Jr., 2014. "Mechanisms of Board Turnover: Evidence From Backdating," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 26(2), pages 65-78, June.
    3. Paul A. Gompers & Andrew Metrick, 2001. "Institutional Investors and Equity Prices," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(1), pages 229-259.
    4. Sharad Asthana & Steven Balsam, 2007. "Determinants Of Outside Director Turnover," Working Papers 0023, College of Business, University of Texas at San Antonio.
    5. Bebchuk, Lucian A. & Cohen, Alma, 2005. "The costs of entrenched boards," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 409-433, November.
    6. Rüdiger Fahlenbrach & Angie Low & René M. Stulz, 2017. "Do Independent Director Departures Predict Future Bad Events?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(7), pages 2313-2358.
    7. Suraj Srinivasan, 2005. "Consequences of Financial Reporting Failure for Outside Directors: Evidence from Accounting Restatements and Audit Committee Members," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(2), pages 291-334, May.
    8. Eliezer M. Fich & Anil Shivdasani, 2006. "Are Busy Boards Effective Monitors?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(2), pages 689-724, April.
    9. Karpoff, Jonathan M. & Lee, D. Scott & Martin, Gerald S., 2008. "The Cost to Firms of Cooking the Books," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 43(3), pages 581-611, September.
    10. Fich, Eliezer M. & Shivdasani, Anil, 2007. "Financial fraud, director reputation, and shareholder wealth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 306-336, November.
    11. Renée B. Adams & Daniel Ferreira, 2007. "A Theory of Friendly Boards," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(1), pages 217-250, February.
    12. Gilson, Stuart C., 1990. "Bankruptcy, boards, banks, and blockholders : Evidence on changes in corporate ownership and control when firms default," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 355-387, October.
    13. Brickley, James A. & Linck, James S. & Coles, Jeffrey L., 1999. "What happens to CEOs after they retire? New evidence on career concerns, horizon problems, and CEO incentives," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 341-377, June.
    14. Faleye, Olubunmi, 2007. "Classified boards, firm value, and managerial entrenchment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 501-529, February.
    15. Brochet, Francois & Srinivasan, Suraj, 2014. "Accountability of independent directors: Evidence from firms subject to securities litigation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(2), pages 430-449.
    16. Masulis, Ronald W. & Mobbs, Shawn, 2014. "Independent director incentives: Where do talented directors spend their limited time and energy?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(2), pages 406-429.
    17. Jonathan M. Karpoff & D. Scott Lee & Gerald S. Martin, 2014. "The Consequences to Managers for Financial Misrepresentation," Springer Books, in: Roberto Pietra & Stuart McLeay & Joshua Ronen (ed.), Accounting and Regulation, edition 127, chapter 0, pages 339-375, Springer.
    18. Goyal, Vidhan K. & Park, Chul W., 2002. "Board leadership structure and CEO turnover," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 49-66, January.
    19. Kaplan, Steven N. & Reishus, David, 1990. "Outside directorships and corporate performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 389-410, October.
    20. Michael R. Roberts & Amir Sufi, 2009. "Control Rights and Capital Structure: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(4), pages 1657-1695, August.
    21. Chen, Xia & Harford, Jarrad & Li, Kai, 2007. "Monitoring: Which institutions matter?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 279-305, November.
    22. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:5:p:2281-2308 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Duchin, Ran & Matsusaka, John G. & Ozbas, Oguzhan, 2010. "When are outside directors effective?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 195-214, May.
    24. Greg Nini & David C. Smith & Amir Sufi, 2012. "Creditor Control Rights, Corporate Governance, and Firm Value," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(6), pages 1713-1761.
    25. Coles, Jeffrey L. & Daniel, Naveen D. & Naveen, Lalitha, 2008. "Boards: Does one size fit all," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 329-356, February.
    26. Field, Laura & Lowry, Michelle & Mkrtchyan, Anahit, 2013. "Are busy boards detrimental?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(1), pages 63-82.
    27. Harford, Jarrad, 2003. "Takeover bids and target directors' incentives: the impact of a bid on directors' wealth and board seats," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 51-83, July.
    28. Fos, Vyacheslav & Tsoutsoura, Margarita, 2014. "Shareholder democracy in play: Career consequences of proxy contests," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(2), pages 316-340.
    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. Eulaiwi, Baban & Khalaf, Nihad Shareef & Al-Hadi, Ahmed & Duong, Lien & Taylor, Grantley, 2024. "Money laundering governance and income shifting: Evidence from Australian financial institutions," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    2. Lel, Ugur & Miller, Darius, 2019. "The labor market for directors and externalities in corporate governance: Evidence from the international labor market," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1).
    3. Martin Bugeja & Yaowen Shan & Yanglan Zu, 2024. "The disciplinary role of unsuccessful takeovers and changes in corporate governance," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 64(1), pages 941-973, March.
    4. Tang, Ning & Chen, Jianqiang & Lin, Chih-Yung & Tuan, Le Quoc, 2024. "Interlocked executives’ bad reputation in the labor market," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    5. Bai, Min & Pan, Maomao, 2023. "The economic independence of supervisory boards and corporate innovation: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    6. Murali Jagannathan & Srinivasan Krishnamurthy & Joshua Spizman, 2021. "Board committees and director departures," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 56(4), pages 619-644, November.
    7. Haw, In-Mu & Song, Byron Y. & Tan, Weiqiang & Wang, Wenming, 2021. "Bankruptcy, overlapping directors, and bank loan pricing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    8. Quinn D. Curtis & Justin J. Hopkins, 2022. "Career concerns for revealing misreporting," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 1-34, March.
    9. Amore, Mario Daniele & Marzano, Riccardo, 2019. "Family Ownership and Antitrust Violations," CEPR Discussion Papers 14018, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Kim, Hyemin & Fahlenbrach, Rüdiger & Low, Angie, 2023. "CEO networks and the labor market for directors," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 1-21.
    11. Chen, Chen & Dou, Ying & Kuang, Yu Flora & Naiker, Vic, 2023. "Do professional ties enhance board seat prospects of independent directors with tainted reputations?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    12. Kuang, Yu Flora & Qin, Bo & Yang, Xing, 2023. "We are under attack: Terrorist attacks and director turnover," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(5).
    13. Bai, Jing & Tang, Xuesong & Zheng, Yuxin, 2023. "Serving the truth: Do directors with media background improve financial reporting quality?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    14. Clacher, Iain & Garcia Osma, Beatriz & Scarlat, Elvira & Shields, Karin, 2021. "Do commonalities facilitate private information channels? Evidence from common gender and insider trading," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).

    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. Chakravarty, Sugato & Rutherford, Leann G., 2017. "Do busy directors influence the cost of debt? An examination through the lens of takeover vulnerability," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 429-443.
    2. Lel, Ugur & Miller, Darius, 2019. "The labor market for directors and externalities in corporate governance: Evidence from the international labor market," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1).
    3. Li, Siyuan & Qu, Tianshu Charlotte & Yu, Yingri Julia, 2022. "Outside director social network centrality and turnover before stock performance crash: A friend in need?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    4. Naaraayanan, S. Lakshmi & Nielsen, Kasper Meisner, 2021. "Does personal liability deter individuals from serving as independent directors?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(2), pages 621-643.
    5. Ahn, Seoungpil & Shrestha, Keshab, 2013. "The differential effects of classified boards on firm value," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 3993-4013.
    6. Bennouri, Moez & Chtioui, Tawhid & Nagati, Haithem & Nekhili, Mehdi, 2018. "Female board directorship and firm performance: What really matters?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 267-291.
    7. 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.
    8. Baran, Lindsay, 2017. "Director connectedness and firm value in S&P 500 Index reconstitutions," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 63-79.
    9. Masulis, Ronald W. & Mobbs, Shawn, 2014. "Independent director incentives: Where do talented directors spend their limited time and energy?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(2), pages 406-429.
    10. Armstrong, Christopher S. & Guay, Wayne R. & Weber, Joseph P., 2010. "The role of information and financial reporting in corporate governance and debt contracting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 179-234, December.
    11. Qinlin Zhong & Yuanyuan Liu & Chun Yuan, 2017. "Director interlocks and spillover effects of board monitoring: evidence from regulatory sanctions," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 57(5), pages 1605-1633, December.
    12. Del Guercio, Diane & Seery, Laura & Woidtke, Tracie, 2008. "Do boards pay attention when institutional investor activists "just vote no"?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 84-103, October.
    13. Hauser, Roie, 2018. "Busy directors and firm performance: Evidence from mergers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(1), pages 16-37.
    14. Balachandran, Balasingham & Williams, Barry, 2018. "Effective governance, financial markets, financial institutions & crises," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1-15.
    15. Miller, Darius, 2018. "Discussion of “Managing reputation: Evidence from biographies of corporate directors✰," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 470-475.
    16. Upadhyay, Arun & Öztekin, Özde, 2021. "What matters more in board independence? Form or substance: Evidence from influential CEO-directors," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    17. Haw, In-Mu & Song, Byron Y. & Tan, Weiqiang & Wang, Wenming, 2021. "Bankruptcy, overlapping directors, and bank loan pricing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    18. Ertimur, Yonca & Ferri, Fabrizio & Maber, David A., 2012. "Reputation penalties for poor monitoring of executive pay: Evidence from option backdating," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(1), pages 118-144.
    19. Chang, Wen-Ching & Chen, Jui-Pin, 2020. "Auditor sanction and reputation damage: Evidence from changes in non-client-company directorships," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(3).
    20. Chen, Sheng-Syan & Chen, Yan-Shing & Kang, Jun-Koo & Peng, Shu-Cing, 2020. "Board structure, director expertise, and advisory role of outside directors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(2), pages 483-503.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Director departures; Reputational concerns; Board seats; Labor market settling-up;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • 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:eee:jaecon:v:63:y:2017:i:2:p:161-178. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jae .

    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.