IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbfina/v113y2020ics0378426620300315.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Directors who serve multiple pension funds: Are they conflicted or skilled?

Author

Listed:
  • Ooi, Elizabeth

Abstract

Directors who hold concurrent directorships within a single industry may have an information advantage or face conflicts of interest. This practice is permitted in the Australian pension fund industry, even between competing funds. Results show that funds with directors who hold competing board seats are associated with poor fund performance. Non-competing seats are associated with better fund performance in complex funds. Directors favor positions which align with personal and reputational incentives. Overall, the opposing arguments regarding the effect of multiple directorships are not mutually exclusive but dependent on cross-sectional variation in fund characteristics and the types of directorships held.

Suggested Citation

  • Ooi, Elizabeth, 2020. "Directors who serve multiple pension funds: Are they conflicted or skilled?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:113:y:2020:i:c:s0378426620300315
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2020.105764
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378426620300315
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2020.105764?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. Stephen P. Ferris & Murali Jagannathan & A. C. Pritchard, 2003. "Too Busy to Mind the Business? Monitoring by Directors with Multiple Board Appointments," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(3), pages 1087-1111, June.
    2. Berg, Tatjana & Horsch, Philipp & Schmid, Markus, 2015. "Sharing a Director with a Peer," Working Papers on Finance 1507, University of St. Gallen, School of Finance.
    3. Anil Shivdasani & David Yermack, 1999. "CEO Involvement in the Selection of New Board Members: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(5), pages 1829-1853, October.
    4. Fahlenbrach, Rüdiger & Low, Angie & Stulz, René M., 2010. "Why do firms appoint CEOs as outside directors?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 12-32, July.
    5. Ryan, Harley Jr. & Wiggins, Roy III, 2004. "Who is in whose pocket? Director compensation, board independence, and barriers to effective monitoring," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(3), pages 497-524, September.
    6. Anzhela Knyazeva & Diana Knyazeva & Ronald W. Masulis, 2013. "The Supply of Corporate Directors and Board Independence," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(6), pages 1561-1605.
    7. repec:bla:jfinan:v:58:y:2003:i:3:p:1087-1112 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Renée Adams & Daniel Ferreira, 2008. "One Share-One Vote: The Empirical Evidence," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 12(1), pages 51-91.
    10. Bradley, Daniel & Pantzalis, Christos & Yuan, Xiaojing, 2016. "The influence of political bias in state pension funds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(1), pages 69-91.
    11. Fiona Stewart & Juan Yermo, 2008. "Pension Fund Governance: Challenges and Potential Solutions," OECD Working Papers on Insurance and Private Pensions 18, OECD Publishing.
    12. Yu-Wei Hu & Colin Pugh & Fiona Stewart & Juan Yermo, 2007. "Collective Pension Funds: International Evidence and Implications for China's Enterprise Annuities Reform," Financial Market Trends, OECD Publishing, vol. 2007(2), pages 135-166.
    13. Carhart, Mark M, 1997. "On Persistence in Mutual Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 57-82, March.
    14. Yang, Tina & Zhao, Shan, 2014. "CEO duality and firm performance: Evidence from an exogenous shock to the competitive environment," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 534-552.
    15. Aleksandar Andonov & Yael V. Hochberg & Joshua D. Rauh, 2018. "Political Representation and Governance: Evidence from the Investment Decisions of Public Pension Funds," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 73(5), pages 2041-2086, October.
    16. Yermack, David, 1996. "Higher market valuation of companies with a small board of directors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 185-211, February.
    17. Nanda, Vikram & Onal, Bunyamin, 2016. "Incentive contracting when boards have related industry expertise," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 1-22.
    18. Claudio Loderer & Urs Peyer, 2002. "Board Overlap, Seat Accumulation and Share Prices," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 8(2), pages 165-192, June.
    19. Wang, Cong & Xie, Fei & Zhu, Min, 2015. "Industry Expertise of Independent Directors and Board Monitoring," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 50(5), pages 929-962, October.
    20. Core, John E. & Holthausen, Robert W. & Larcker, David F., 1999. "Corporate governance, chief executive officer compensation, and firm performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 371-406, March.
    21. Kakabadse, Nada & Kakabadse, Andrew & Kouzmin, Alex, 2003. "Pension Fund Trustees:: Role and Contribution," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 376-386, June.
    22. Olubunmi Faleye & Rani Hoitash & Udi Hoitash, 2018. "Industry expertise on corporate boards," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 441-479, February.
    23. 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.
    24. Del Guercio, Diane & Dann, Larry Y. & Partch, M. Megan, 2003. "Governance and boards of directors in closed-end investment companies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 111-152, July.
    25. Khorana, Ajay & Tufano, Peter & Wedge, Lei, 2007. "Board structure, mergers, and shareholder wealth: A study of the mutual fund industry," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 571-598, August.
    26. Fama, Eugene F & Jensen, Michael C, 1983. "Separation of Ownership and Control," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 301-325, June.
    27. John C. Adams & Sattar A. Mansi & Takeshi Nishikawa, 2010. "Internal Governance Mechanisms and Operational Performance: Evidence from Index Mutual Funds," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(3), pages 1261-1286, March.
    28. Bateman, Hazel & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2004. "New evidence on pension plan design and administrative expenses: the Australian experience," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(1), pages 63-76, March.
    29. Sophie Xiaofei Kong & Dragon Yongjun Tang, 2008. "Unitary Boards And Mutual Fund Governance," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 31(3), pages 193-224, September.
    30. 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.
    31. Ferris, Stephen P. & Yan, Xuemin (Sterling), 2007. "Do independent directors and chairmen matter? The role of boards of directors in mutual fund governance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(2-3), pages 392-420, June.
    32. Christa H. S. Bouwman, 2011. "Corporate Governance Propagation through Overlapping Directors," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(7), pages 2358-2394.
    33. José‐Miguel Gaspar & Massimo Massa & Pedro Matos, 2006. "Favoritism in Mutual Fund Families? Evidence on Strategic Cross‐Fund Subsidization," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(1), pages 73-104, February.
    34. 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.
    35. James R. Cummings & David Gallagher, 2016. "Effect of fund size on the performance of Australian superannuation funds," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 56(3), pages 695-725, September.
    36. Field, Laura & Lowry, Michelle & Mkrtchyan, Anahit, 2013. "Are busy boards detrimental?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(1), pages 63-82.
    37. Karen Benson & Marion Hutchinson & Ashwin Sriram, 2011. "Governance in the Australian Superannuation Industry," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 99(2), pages 183-200, March.
    38. Liu, Yu & Miletkov, Mihail K. & Wei, Zuobao & Yang, Tina, 2015. "Board independence and firm performance in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 223-244.
    39. Ronald W. Masulis & Shawn Mobbs, 2011. "Are All Inside Directors the Same? Evidence from the External Directorship Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(3), pages 823-872, June.
    40. Nishant Dass & Omesh Kini & Vikram Nanda & Bunyamin Onal & Jun Wang, 2014. "Board Expertise: Do Directors from Related Industries Help Bridge the Information Gap?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(5), pages 1533-1592.
    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. 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.
    2. Volonté, Christophe, 2015. "Boards: Independent and committed directors?," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 25-37.
    3. 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.
    4. Hauser, Roie, 2018. "Busy directors and firm performance: Evidence from mergers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(1), pages 16-37.
    5. 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.
    6. Masulis, Ronald W. & Zhang, Emma Jincheng, 2019. "How valuable are independent directors? Evidence from external distractions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(3), pages 226-256.
    7. Le, Quyen & Vafaei, Alireza & Ahmed, Kamran & Kutubi, Shawgat, 2022. "Independent directors' reputation incentives and firm performance – an Australian perspective," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    8. Adams, Mike & Jiang, Wei, 2016. "Do outside directors influence the financial performance of risk-trading firms? Evidence from the United Kingdom (UK) insurance industry," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 36-51.
    9. James, Hui Liang & Ngo, Thanh & Wang, Hongxia, 2021. "Independent director tenure and corporate transparency," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    10. Cao, Zhiyan & Upadhyay, Arun & Zeng, Hongchao, 2024. "Are all female directors equal? Incentives and effectiveness of female independent directors," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    11. Chen, Zonghao & Keefe, Michael O'Connor, 2020. "Rookie directors and firm performance: Evidence from China11We thank William L Megginson (the editor), two anonymous referees, Graeme Guthrie, Heng Geng, Adrian Cheung and seminar participants at the ," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    12. Cavaco, Sandra & Crifo, Patricia & Rebérioux, Antoine & Roudaut, Gwenael, 2017. "Independent directors: Less informed but better selected than affiliated board members?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 106-121.
    13. Sun, Liang, 2021. "Does the location of directors' additional positions matter? A new dimension of board structure," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    14. 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.
    15. 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).
    16. Cai, Xiangshang & Gao, Ning & Garrett, Ian & Xu, Yan, 2020. "Are CEOs judged on their companies' social reputation?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    17. Kryzanowski, Lawrence & Mohebshahedin, Mahmood, 2016. "Board governance, monetary interest, and closed-end fund performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 196-217.
    18. Catarina Fernandes & Jorge Farinha & Francisco Vitorino Martins & Cesario Mateus, 2017. "Supervisory boards, financial crisis and bank performance: do board characteristics matter?," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(4), pages 310-337, November.
    19. Franco Ernesto Rubino & Paolo Tenuta & Domenico Rocco Cambrea, 2017. "Board characteristics effects on performance in family and non-family business: a multi-theoretical approach," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 21(3), pages 623-658, September.
    20. 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).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Pension funds; Multiple directorships; Fund Performance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General

    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:jbfina:v:113:y:2020:i:c:s0378426620300315. 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/jbf .

    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.