IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v84y2018icp11-23.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Breaking the mold: An examination of board discretion in female CEO appointments

Author

Listed:
  • Knippen, Jennifer M.
  • Palar, Jennifer
  • Gentry, Richard J.

Abstract

We propose and test a theory of board discretion in the context of the board's selection of a female CEO. We propose that boards also have discretion, an area that has typically focused exclusively on managers, and examine the conditions under which boards, facing high levels of uncertainty, have the latitude to make nontraditional choices, particularly when a negative equity market reaction to such a selection is likely. In the context of the nontraditional choice of a female CEO successor, we observe that the strong financial health of the firm and boardroom and situation-specific experience grant the board the discretion to select a female CEO. We test our model using all Standard & Poors (S&P) 1500 firms that experienced a CEO succession between 2000 and 2013. Implications for practice and research are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Knippen, Jennifer M. & Palar, Jennifer & Gentry, Richard J., 2018. "Breaking the mold: An examination of board discretion in female CEO appointments," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 11-23.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:84:y:2018:i:c:p:11-23
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.10.057
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296317304381
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.10.057?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. Heather A. Haveman & Michael V. Russo & Alan D. Meyer, 2001. "Organizational Environments in Flux: The Impact of Regulatory Punctuations on Organizational Domains, CEO Succession, and Performance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(3), pages 253-273, June.
    2. King, Gary & Zeng, Langche, 2001. "Logistic Regression in Rare Events Data," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 137-163, January.
    3. Mariateresa Torchia & Andrea Calabrò & Morten Huse, 2011. "Women Directors on Corporate Boards: From Tokenism to Critical Mass," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(2), pages 299-317, August.
    4. 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.
    5. Violina P. Rindova, 1999. "What Corporate Boards have to do with Strategy: A Cognitive Perspective," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(7), pages 953-975, December.
    6. Sahlman, William A., 1990. "The structure and governance of venture-capital organizations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 473-521, October.
    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. Borokhovich, Kenneth A. & Parrino, Robert & Trapani, Teresa, 1996. "Outside Directors and CEO Selection," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 31(3), pages 337-355, September.
    9. Kaplan, Steven N. & Reishus, David, 1990. "Outside directorships and corporate performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 389-410, October.
    10. William Ocasio, 2011. "Attention to Attention," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1286-1296, October.
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. Pino G. Audia & Henrich R. Greve, 2006. "Less Likely to Fail: Low Performance, Firm Size, and Factory Expansion in the Shipbuilding Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(1), pages 83-94, January.
    14. Fama, Eugene F, 1980. "Agency Problems and the Theory of the Firm," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 88(2), pages 288-307, April.
    15. Ohlson, Ja, 1980. "Financial Ratios And The Probabilistic Prediction Of Bankruptcy," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 109-131.
    16. Gilson, Stuart C., 1989. "Management turnover and financial distress," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 241-262, December.
    17. S. Trevis Certo & John R. Busenbark & Hyun‐soo Woo & Matthew Semadeni, 2016. "Sample selection bias and Heckman models in strategic management research," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(13), pages 2639-2657, December.
    18. Thomas Dalziel & Richard J. Gentry & Michael Bowerman, 2011. "An Integrated Agency–Resource Dependence View of the Influence of Directors' Human and Relational Capital on Firms' R&D Spending," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48, pages 1217-1242, September.
    19. Donald C. Hambrick & Richard A. D'Aveni, 1992. "Top Team Deterioration as Part of the Downward Spiral of Large Corporate Bankruptcies," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(10), pages 1445-1466, October.
    20. Yangmin Kim, 2005. "Board Network Characteristics and Firm Performance in Korea," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(6), pages 800-808, November.
    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. Lartey, Theophilus & Danso, Albert & Boateng, Agyenim, 2021. "Co-opted boards and capital structure dynamics," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    2. Claude Francoeur & Yuntian Li & Zvi Singer & Jing Zhang, 2023. "Earnings forecasts of female CEOs: quality and consequences," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 1721-1764, September.
    3. Liu, Yin & Neely, Pamela & Karim, Khondkar, 2022. "The impact of CFO gender on corporate overinvestment," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    4. Thams, Yannick & Bendell, Bari L. & Terjesen, Siri, 2018. "Explaining women's presence on corporate boards: The institutionalization of progressive gender-related policies," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 130-140.

    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. 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.
    2. Li, Yong & Aguilera, Ruth V., 2008. "Target Director Turnover in Acquisitions: A Conceptual Framework," Working Papers 08-0106, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Business.
    3. Yong Li & Ruth V. Aguilera, 2008. "Target Director Turnover in Acquisitions: A Conceptual Framework," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(6), pages 492-503, November.
    4. McKnight, Phillip J. & Weir, Charlie, 2009. "Agency costs, corporate governance mechanisms and ownership structure in large UK publicly quoted companies: A panel data analysis," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 139-158, May.
    5. Jo-Ellen Pozner, 2008. "Stigma and Settling Up: An Integrated Approach to the Consequences of Organizational Misconduct for Organizational Elites," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 80(1), pages 141-150, June.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. Linn, Scott C. & Park, Daniel, 2005. "Outside director compensation policy and the investment opportunity set," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 680-715, September.
    9. 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.
    10. Benjamin E. Hermalin & Michael S. Weisbach, 2003. "Boards of directors as an endogenously determined institution: a survey of the economic literature," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 9(Apr), pages 7-26.
    11. Hadem, Michael, 2010. "Bedingungen und Konsequenzen des Wechsels von Finanzvorständen - Eine Analyse in großen börsennotierten Unternehmen," EconStor Theses, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 43681, January.
    12. Richard Gentry & Clay Dibrell & Jaemin Kim, 2016. "Long–Term Orientation in Publicly Traded Family Businesses: Evidence of a Dominant Logic," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 40(4), pages 733-757, July.
    13. M. Andrew Fields & Phyllis Y. Keys, 2003. "The Emergence of Corporate Governance from Wall St. to Main St.: Outside Directors, Board Diversity, Earnings Management, and Managerial Incentives to Bear Risk," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 38(1), pages 1-24, February.
    14. Lee, Yung-Chuan & Wang, Ming-Chang, 2017. "How does corporate control affect the appointment, auditing expertise and reputation of independent directors? Evidence from Taiwan," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 130-140.
    15. 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.
    16. Lucrezia Fattobene & Marco Caiffa, 2016. "Sitting on the Board or Sitting on the Throne? Evidence of Boards' Overconfidence from the Italian Market," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 45(2), pages 235-269, July.
    17. Renneboog, L.D.R. & Trojanowski, G., 2002. "The Managerial Labor Market and the Governance Role of Shareholder Control Structures in the UK," Discussion Paper 2002-68, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    18. 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).
    19. Barbara Voußem & Utz Schäffer & Denis Schweizer, 2015. "Top management turnover under the influence of activist investors," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 19(3), pages 709-739, August.
    20. Jingoo Kang, 2016. "Labor market evaluation versus legacy conservation: What factors determine retiring CEOs' decisions about long-term investment?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 389-405, February.

    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:jbrese:v:84:y:2018:i:c:p:11-23. 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/jbusres .

    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.