Board of directors' characteristics and corporate risk disclosure: the moderating role of family ownership

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-252
Author(s):  
Malek Hamed Alshirah ◽  
Azhar Abdul Rahman ◽  
Ifa Rizad Mustapa

PurposeThis study aims at examining the level of risk of disclosure practices and the effect of four board of directors' characteristics (board size, board meetings, CEO duality and board expertise) on these practices in the Jordanian context. This study also adds to the body of literature by examining the moderating effect of family ownership on the relationship between the board of directors' characteristics and the corporate risk disclosure.Design/methodology/approachThe sample of this study contains the non-financial Jordanian firms listed on Amman Stock Exchange (ASE). 376 annual reports of the sampled firms over four years from 2014 to 2017 were used. The content analysis approach was used to collect data and to determine the level of risk disclosure by computing the number of risk-related sentences in the annual reporting. To test the study's hypothesis, the random effect model was employed.FindingsThe empirical results show that the total of the risk disclosure sentences for each firm ranges from a minimum value of 2 sentences to a maximum value of 61 sentences, and the mean of CRD is 28 sentences. The results also indicate that the board expertise is positively related with the level of risk disclosure. Conversely, CEO duality has a negative impact on the risk disclosure practices. However, the results failed to support that the board size and the board meetings have a significant effect on the level of risk disclosure. Furthermore, the study demonstrated that the family ownership moderates the relationship between the board of directors and the corporate risk disclosure.Practical implicationsThe finding of this study is more likely be useful for many concerned parties, researchers, authorities, investors and financial analysts alike in understanding the current practices of the risk disclosure in Jordan, thus helping them in reconsidering and reviewing the accounting standards and improving the credibility and transparency of the financial reports in the Jordanian capital market.Originality/valueThe current study contributes to the literature of risk disclosure because the previous research has paid little attention to this topic in Jordan. To the best knowledge of the researcher, this study is the first Jordanian study that focuses on examining the relationship between the board of directors' characteristics and the corporate risk disclosure in the non-financial sector. Furthermore, it is the first study that examines the moderating role of family ownership on such relationships. Consequently, the results of the current study draw attention to the CRD practices and the monitoring role of board of directors in Jordan.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Malek Hamed Alshirah ◽  
Ahmad Farhan Alshira’h ◽  
Abdalwali Lutfi

Purpose This study aims to empirically examine whether the political connection is related to risk disclosure practices. The study also seeks to contribute to the existent risk disclosure literature by investigating the moderator effect of family ownership on this relationship. Design/methodology/approach The content analysis approach was used to collect data and determine the level of risk disclosure over the non-financial Jordanian firms listed on 1Amman Stock Exchange. The sample of this study contains 376 annual reports over four years from 2014 to 2017. It used the random effect regressions to examine the hypothesis of the study. Findings The results show that politically connected companies disclose less risk information than the unconnected ones in Jordan. The results also refer that family ownership contributes in mitigating the negative effect of the political connection on the level of corporate risk. Practical implications The results have implications for regulatory institutions such as the Jordan Securities Commission to take the negative effect of political connection in their consideration and impose further regulations to monitor this board’s attribute and control politicians’ domination on the board decisions. Originality/value The current study also contributes to the body of literature by investigating the effects of the political connections on the level of risk disclosure in the financial reports. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the current study is the first to examine the effect of the political connection on the risk disclosure practices. Moreover, the study is among the first studies that examine the moderating role of family ownership on such relationship.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng Dong ◽  
Xiao Wang ◽  
Jiawen Chen

Purpose This study aims to investigate the impact of family ownership on cooperative research and development (R&D). Drawing on the ability and willingness paradox framework in family business research, the authors suggest that family ownership influences cooperative R&D via two opposing mechanisms: power concentration and wealth concentration. It also deepens the current understanding of the boundary conditions of informal institutions for the impact of family ownership on cooperative R&D by investigating the moderating role of political ties. Design/methodology/approach The authors analyze a panel of 610 Chinese manufacturing family firms and 2,127 firm-year observations from 2009 to 2017. Fixed effects regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses, with the two-stage Heckman model to address sample selection bias. Findings The research findings indicate that family ownership has an inverted U-shaped relationship with cooperative R&D and political ties moderate the relationship in such a way that the inverted U-shaped relationship will be steeper in firms with more political ties than in firms with fewer political ties. Practical implications Family ownership influences firms’ cooperative R&D through the positive effect of power concentration and the negative effect of wealth concentration. Family owners should, therefore, take advantage of concentrated power, for instance, by adapting quickly and committing sufficient resources to cooperative R&D opportunities, while controlling path-dependent relationship development caused by concentrated family wealth. The effect of political ties on the relationship between family ownership and cooperative R&D is found to be a double-edged sword. Originality/value This study extends the ability and willingness paradox framework and provides novel insights into cooperative R&D in family businesses by integrating power concentration and wealth concentration associated with family ownership. Moreover, this study provides a contingency perspective and introduces the moderating role of political ties in shaping cooperative R&D in family firms.


2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (11) ◽  
pp. 1201-1215
Author(s):  
Mark A. Tribbitt ◽  
Yi Yang

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between board dependence, antitakeover provisions and their influence on corporate entrepreneurship (CE). Design/methodology/approach The study uses agency theory as a framework to expand on the board dependence–CE relationship by injecting the moderating role of antitakeover provisions to the model. Using data collected from 350 publicly traded firms, a panel regression analyses was conducted on both innovation and venturing components of CE. Findings The findings of this study show a negative relationship between board dependence and CE. Further this study shows that such a negative relationship becomes weaker when higher levels of antitakeover provisions are injected into the model. Research limitations/implications This study was conducted using a sample of large publicly traded firms within the information and manufacturing sectors, and so our findings may not be generalizable to firms in other contexts. Further, other variables representing CE (e.g. new product introductions) may add to this line of research in the future. Practical implications Understanding the role of board of directors within a firm may help foster CE throughout the organization. Originality/value This study expands on existing research by incorporating the influence of environmental factors (e.g. antitakeover provisions) and examining the relationship between corporate governance and CE using both measures of innovation and venturing.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 60-64
Author(s):  
Nauman Iqbal Mirza ◽  
Qaiser Ali Malik

This study evaluates the moderating role of diversity in the board of directors on the relationship between Corporate Governance and dividend decisions of listed companies of Pakistan. This study further explores relationship between conventional accounting variables and dividend decisions. Multifaceted diversity of the board of directors encompassing age, experience and nationality is examined. Panel Data Analysis is used to measure the cause and effect relationship among the variables. General to specific modelling is used by including all the potential regressors. Results depict that Firm Size, Leverage and Experience Diversity of Board negatively effects the Dividend Decisions, while Earnings per Share, CEO Duality, Directors Nationality and Age effects positively. Furthermore Age and Nationality Diversity of directors significantly moderate the relationship between Corporate Governance and Dividend Decisions.


2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nubia Evertsson

Purpose This paper aims to study the roles of CEOs, board of directors and accounting/auditing firms in the adoption of tax avoidance schemas. Design/methodology/approach A cross-national analysis with data from 22 countries is used to examine the relationship between tax avoidance and the ethical qualities of the top leadership of the organizations, the firm’s profile and the tax/legal system characteristics. Findings The results show that the board of directors is the actor that contributes more to control tax avoidance cross-nationally, whereas the CEOs’ role to contend this practice is less relevant. The outcomes for accounting/auditing firms reveal that the stronger standards these firms have, the more tax avoidance is observed. Originality/value The methodology (cross-national analysis) and dimensions examined (role of the actors/instances of discretional power) in this inquiry offer a novel perspective to the analysis of tax avoidance, as most scholarly studies have taken a national approach and have mainly focused on studying the characteristics of the firms involved in tax avoidance.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Federica Pascucci ◽  
Oscar Domenichelli ◽  
Enzo Peruffo ◽  
Gian Luca Gregori

PurposeThis article investigates the relationship between family ownership and export performance in the context of SMEs while also considering the moderating role of the financial dimension and, in particular, financial constraints and financial flexibility.Design/methodology/approachWe select a sample of 1,132 Italian SMEs to examine through an econometric analysis the role and impact of family ownership and the financial moderating variables being used on their export performance.FindingsThe results indicate that there is a U-shaped relationship between family ownership and export performance: the highest levels of export performance correspond to the lowest and highest family ownership levels, whereas when a mixture of family and nonfamily ownership exists, the performance suffers because of “conflicting voices” dominating strategic visions and approaches, harming the firm's export commitment. Moreover, the findings show that lower financial constraints and/or stronger financial flexibility improve the relationship between family ownership and export performance.Research limitations/implicationsOur findings show that the ownership structure is important for export performance; in particular, firms should avoid a mixture between family and nonfamily ownership because it is detrimental to export performance. Moreover, Italian SMEs need to develop sources of financing other than the banking channel, and policy makers should favour this process to overcome financial constraint problems and improve financial flexibility. Limitations concern the use of other econometric approaches and measurement variables to further investigate the connection between family ownership and export performance.Originality/valueThe present study enhances the comprehension of the complex relationship between family ownership and export performance by documenting the relevance of the level of family ownership and considering the moderating role of financial constraints and flexibility.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jihwan Yeon ◽  
Michael S. Lin ◽  
Seoki Lee ◽  
Amit Sharma

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the moderating role of family involvement on the corporate social responsibility (CSR)-firm performance (FP) relationship in the US hospitality industry. Building on agency theory, this study examines how family ownership, management and board control influence the relationship between CSR and FP. Design/methodology/approach To examine the moderating effect of family ownership, family management and family board control, this study adopts the two-way fixed-effects model and performs a panel regression analysis with robust standard errors. The sample period spans 1994–2018 and 565 firm-year observations are included. Findings This study finds that the impact of CSR on FP is positively moderated by the extent of a firm’s family member involvement. In specific, all three aspects of corporate governance (i.e. ownership, management and board control) positively moderate the relationship between CSR and FP. Research limitations/implications Findings of this study yield several recommendations for hospitality managers, including shaping strategic decisions for implementing CSR, by providing a unique perspective that the involvement of founding family members can be helpful in enhancing firm value through CSR activities. Originality/value This study sheds light on the further understanding of the CSR-FP link in the hospitality literature. In addition, this study provides practical guidelines for hospitality firms in the context of CSR by revealing possible advantages of strengthened founding family involvement.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vidya Sukumara Panicker ◽  
Rajesh Srinivas Upadhyayula

PurposeThis paper attempts to examine the activity and involvement of board of directors in internationalization activities of firms in emerging markets, by evaluating the resource provisioning roles of interlocks provided by board of directors, and the frequency of board meetings. We demonstrate that the effectiveness of board involvement is contingent upon the levels of family ownership in firms since family ownership could impact the firm’s ability to utilize the presence of different types of board members.Design/methodology/approachThe authors test our hypotheses on a sample of listed Indian companies, extracted from the Prowess database published by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), a database of the financial performance of Indian companies. On a panel of 3,133 firm years of 605 unique Indian firms with foreign investments, over a time period of 2006–2017, the authors apply different estimation techniques.FindingsThe results demonstrate that both board meeting frequency and director interlocks are instrumental in supporting internationalization activities in emerging market firms. However, family ownership moderates the role of insider and independent interlocks on internationalization investments in different ways; the authors find that interlocks provided by independent directors support internationalization activities in family firms, whereas those provided by insider directors do not. Further, the study also finds that board meetings are less effective in internationalization of family firms.Practical implicationsThe authors conclude that family firms aiming at international diversification require to develop more connected and networked independent directors to enable internationalization in firms. While independent director interlocks enhance the international investments, it is also useful to know that board meetings are ineffective in utilizing the resources in family firms. This points to the possibility that family firms should device mechanisms to integrate family meetings with board meetings so that they can utilize the within-family processes to aid in their internationalization decisions.Originality/valueThe study contributes to resource dependence theory by understanding its limiting role in family firms. Theoretically, it helps delineate the limiting resource provision role of the insider directors vis-à-vis independent directors. The authors argue that the resource provision role of insider director interlocks does not effectively help in internationalization in comparison to independent director interlocks in family-dominated firms. Consequently, the study shows the limiting role of resource provision and utilization by family-owned firms in comparison to non-family-owned firms.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang Lu ◽  
Jinliang Chen ◽  
Hua Song ◽  
Xiangyu Zhou

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine how cloud computing assimilation reduces supply chain financing (SCF) risks of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This study also investigated the mediating roles of internal and external supply chain integration between cloud computing assimilation and the SCF risks of SMEs, as well as the moderating role of environmental competitiveness. Design/methodology/approach Data was collected from surveys of SMEs located in China. Multiple regression analysis was used to validate the proposed theoretical model and research hypotheses. Findings The findings show that cloud computing assimilation could reduce the SCF risks of SMEs directly. The results also indicate that both internal and external supply chain integration mediate the relationship between cloud computing assimilation and SCF risks. Furthermore, environmental competitiveness inhibits the effects of cloud computing assimilation on SCF risks. Originality/value To our best knowledge, this is the preliminary study to explore the role of cloud computing assimilation in reducing the SCF risks of SMEs. Also, this study attempted to investigate the process by which cloud computing assimilation affects the SCF risks of SMEs.


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