The board effectiveness index and stock price crash risk

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Woraphon Wattanatorn ◽  
Chaiyuth Padungsaksawasdi

PurposeThe main purpose of this study is to use a new broad board effectiveness index, which has been created from several internal attributes of board of directors and to investigate the association of the overall index regarding stock price crash risk.Design/methodology/approachThe authors create a new board effectiveness index from a comprehensive set of board attributes, including the number of board meetings, the number of board attendances, the expertise of the directors, the size of the board and the number of independent directors, in order to test with the stock price crash risk by using panel regression models with fixed effects. The two-stage least squared regression ensures endogeneity issues.FindingsAn increase in board effectiveness index lowers firm-specific crash risk. Moreover, female directors enhance the board effectiveness.Originality/valueWith a new broad board effectiveness index, this paper is unique from other studies as the authors focus on the overall index rather than on a single dimension of board attributes.

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mostafa Hasan ◽  
Dewan Rahman ◽  
Grantley Taylor ◽  
Barry Oliver

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the association between debt maturity structure and stock price crash risk in Australia.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employ panel data estimation with industry and year fixed effects. The paper uses a sample of 1,548 publicly listed Australian firms (8,661 firm-year observations) covering the 2000–2015 period.FindingsStock price crash risk is positively and significantly associated with the long-term debt maturity structure of firms. In addition, this positive association is more pronounced for firms with a more opaque information environment.Originality/valueThis is the first study to examine stock price crash risk in Australia. The findings are value relevant as it uncovers how debt maturity structure affects shareholders' wealth protection.


2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-343
Author(s):  
Hyunkwon Cho ◽  
Robert Kim

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether analysts’ optimism affects the stock crash risk. Design/methodology/approach The sample covers 49,246 firm-year observations for the period between 1995 and 2015. The authors use OLS regressions with firm and year fixed effects for analyses. Findings The study finds that there is a positive association between analysts’ optimism and stock crash risk. Such a positive impact is more pronounced for firms with opaque information environment and for analysts who are considered ex ante credible. Research limitations/implications The results indicate that analysts’ optimism can be an important source of stock crash risk. Practical implications The findings can be useful for informational users of analyst reports. Given that information provided by analysts might have negative consequences, the empirical results can be useful in assessing future stock return behaviors. Originality/value This paper has the potential to shed light on the large literature of crash risk. Prior studies suggest that crash is driven by the agency tension between shareholders and managers. It remains possible that crashes could be caused by overpriced stocks in the absence of bad news hoarding. The paper investigates crash from a perspective, financial analysts, that is underexplored.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-296
Author(s):  
Quanxi Liang ◽  
Leng Ling ◽  
Jingjing Tang ◽  
Haijian Zeng ◽  
Mingming Zhuang

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically analyze whether and how managerial overconfidence affects stock price crash risk. Design/methodology/approach Based on a large sample of Chinese non-state-owned firms from 2000 to 2012, this study employs methods including multiple linear regression model, Heckman two-stage treatment effect procedure, firm fixed effects model and event study to clarify the causality relationship between managerial overconfidence and crash risk. Findings The authors find that firms with overconfident managers (chief executive officer or board chairs) are more likely to experience future stock price crashes than firms with non-overconfident managers. The effect of overconfidence on crash risk is more pronounced for firms with low transparency, suggesting that firm opacity facilitates overconfident managers’ bad news hoarding activities, which, in turn, increases stock price crash risk. The authors also show evidence that overconfident managers tend to disclose good news in a timely manner. Originality/value The authors add to the growing literature on stock price crash risk. Specifically, the authors find that the cognitive bias of board chair plays an important role in the bad news hoarding activities, thereby increasing the likelihood of stock price crash. This study also contributes to the literature that addresses the effects of managerial overconfidence on corporate finance issues.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Reuben Segara ◽  
Jin Young Yang

PurposeThis study investigates the valuation motive for increasing share repurchases: the authors analyze the trading dynamics between short sellers, institutional investors and the firm itself around share repurchases.Design/methodology/approachThe authors examine the valuation motive for share repurchases through an analysis of firm, institutional and short sellers’ trading behavior. The firm-level panel regression models using firm-quarter observations in the sample period are estimated.FindingsThe authors find that firms repurchase more intensely against increased short selling and that institutional investors trade in parallel with the repurchasing firm.Originality/valueResults suggest that firms disagree with short sellers’ intrinsic valuation of the firm, which is consistent with findings of recent studies such as Muzere (2019) and Bargeron and Bonaimé (2020).


2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (8) ◽  
pp. 1012-1030 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wing Him Yeung ◽  
Camillo Lento

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine stock price crash risk (SPCR) as a function of meeting or missing three earnings thresholds – reporting a profit (earnings level), reporting an earnings increase (earnings change) and meeting analysts’ forecasts (earnings expectation). Design/methodology/approach The authors rely upon the research design of Herrmann et al. (2011) to identify the incremental impact of the earnings level and earnings change benchmarks on SPCR, after controlling for the effects of meeting or missing analysts’ expectations. Findings The authors find that meeting analysts’ expectations is negatively associated with SPCR, and this relationship strengthens with the magnitude of the unexpected earnings. However, the authors find little evidence of incremental threshold effects to suggest that earnings level and earnings change benchmarks are critical thresholds with respect to SPCR. Our results are robust after including a number of control variables. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature that investigates determinants of SPCR while simultaneously providing new evidence to conclusions that analysts’ earnings forecast is at the top of the earnings benchmark hierarchy.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Udomsak Wongchoti ◽  
Ge Tian ◽  
Wei Hao ◽  
Yi Ding ◽  
Hongfeng Zhou

PurposeThe authors provide a comprehensive empirical examination on the impact of earnings quality on stock price crash risk in China.Design/methodology/approachThe authors acknowledge and distinguish two-dimensional proxies for earnings quality – accounting-based (earnings management degree) and market-based (earnings transparency) known in accounting and finance literature.FindingsThe authors find that both generally indicate that better earnings quality is associated with less crashes. However, extremely high earnings transparency interacted with insider trading profit can also actually exacerbate stock price crashes.Originality/valueThis study is the first to highlight the pertinence of accounting-based measures to proxy for earnings quality in a fast-growing emerging market environment such as China.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Huy Viet Hoang ◽  
Cuong Nguyen ◽  
Khanh Hoang

PurposeThis study compares the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on stock returns in the first two waves of infection across selected markets, given built-in corporate immunity before the global outbreak.Design/methodology/approachThe data are collected from listed firms in five markets that have experienced the second wave of COVID-19 contagion, namely the United States (US), Australia, China, Hong Kong and South Korea. The period of investigation in this study ranges from January 24 to August 28, 2020 to cover the first two COVID-19 waves in selected markets. The study estimates the research model by employing the ordinary least square method with fixed effects to control for the heterogeneity that may confound the empirical outcomes.FindingsThe analysis reveals that firms with larger size and more cash reserves before the COVID-19 outbreak have better stock performance under the first wave; however, these advantages impede stock resilience during the second wave. Corporate governance practices significantly influence stock returns only in the first wave as their effects fade when the second wave emerges. The results also suggest that in economies with greater power distance, although stock price depreciation was milder in the first wave, it is more intense when new cases again surge after the first wave was contained.Practical implicationsThis paper provides practical implications for corporate managers, policymakers and governments concerning crisis management strategies for COVID-19 and future pandemics.Originality/valueThis study is the first to evaluate built-in corporate immunity before the COVID-19 shock under successive contagious waves. Besides, this study accentuates the importance of cultural understanding in weathering the ongoing pandemic across different markets.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinh Huy Nguyen ◽  
Carolina Gomez ◽  
Suchi Mishra ◽  
Ali M. Parhizgari

PurposeWe examine how the net share purchases of top executives of acquiring firms, specifically the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the Chief Operating Officer (COO), can impact shareholder perceptions of a merger and acquisition (M&A) around the announcement time.Design/methodology/approachRegression tests using the post-announcement cumulative returns as the dependent variables, and CEO and COO net purchases as independent test controlling for the net purchases of all other insiders, COO and CEO ownership, exercised options, unexercised exercisable options, merger type, pre-announcement firm size, past performance, industry growth, industry instability, year and industry fixed effects. The regression tests are used for various sub-samples (i.e. non-contemporaneous events, duality, operational complexity, economic conditions).FindingsWe find that overall shareholders value the COO's net purchases before the announcement but not those of the CEOs. If the COO is also the CEO, then executive buy-ins appear to have a negative reaction from the shareholders. When the firm has many business segments or when the announcement is made in an economic recession, the COO's net purchases do not have a positive influence on the shareholders.Originality/valueWe are the first to provide evidence that investors pay attention to the COO around M&A announcements. In the age of celebrity CEOs, who can instantaneously change the stock price with one press release, having another executive that can shape the opinion of investors can diversify the agency risk.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 731-745
Author(s):  
Benjamin Artz

Purpose Less educated supervisors create worker status incongruence, a violation of social norms that signals advancement uncertainty and job ambiguity for workers, and leads to negative behavioral and well-being outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to compare education levels of supervisors with their workers and measure the correlation between relative supervisor education and worker job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach Using the only wave of the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth that identifies education levels of both supervisor and worker, a series of ordered probit estimates describe the relationship between supervisor education levels and subordinate worker well-being. Extensive controls, sub-sample estimates and a control for sorting confirm the estimates. Findings Worker well-being is negatively correlated with having a less educated supervisor and positively correlated with having a more educated supervisor. This result is robust to a number of alternative specifications. In sub-sample estimates, workers highly placed in an organization’s hierarchy do not exhibit reduced well-being with less educated supervisors. Research limitations/implications A limitation is the inability to control for worker fixed effects, which may introduce omitted variable bias into the estimates. Originality/value The paper is the first to introduce relative supervisor–worker education level as a determinant of worker well-being.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document