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Are Busy Directors Harmful or Helpful? Evidence from the Great Recession

Author

Listed:
  • Withisuphakorn Pradit

    (National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA), Bangkok, Thailand)

  • Jiraporn Pornsit

    (School of Graduate Professional Studies, Pennsylvania State University, 30 E. Swedesford Road, Malvern, PA16802-1503, USA)

Abstract

We contribute to the debate on the costs and benefits of busy directors by investigating the effect of busy directors on firm value during a stressful time, i. e. during the Great Recession. Our results show that busy directors improve firm value significantly during the financial crisis. In particular, a rise in directors’ busyness by one standard deviation results in an improvement in Tobin’s q by 6.41 %. Directors with multiple board seats appear to help firms navigate the crisis more successfully, supporting the notion that multiple board seats signal higher quality. Outside the crisis period, however, we find that busy directors reduce firm value, consistent with many prior studies. Our results are crucial as they show that governance mechanisms function differently during stressful times than they do during normal times. Firms should exercise great caution before imposing limits on outside board seats on their directors.

Suggested Citation

  • Withisuphakorn Pradit & Jiraporn Pornsit, 2018. "Are Busy Directors Harmful or Helpful? Evidence from the Great Recession," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 18(2), pages 1-11, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:18:y:2018:i:2:p:11:n:7
    DOI: 10.1515/bejeap-2017-0249
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jiraporn, Pornsit & Davidson III, Wallace N. & DaDalt, Peter & Ning, Yixi, 2009. "Too busy to show up? An analysis of directors' absences," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 1159-1171, August.
    2. James H. Stock & Mark W. Watson, 2008. "Heteroskedasticity-Robust Standard Errors for Fixed Effects Panel Data Regression," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 76(1), pages 155-174, January.
    3. Ira C. Harris & Katsuhiko Shimizu, 2004. "Too Busy To Serve? An Examination of the Influence of Overboarded Directors," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5), pages 775-798, July.
    4. 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.
    5. Karl V. Lins & Henri Servaes & Ane Tamayo, 2017. "Social Capital, Trust, and Firm Performance: The Value of Corporate Social Responsibility during the Financial Crisis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(4), pages 1785-1824, August.
    6. Field, Laura & Lowry, Michelle & Mkrtchyan, Anahit, 2013. "Are busy boards detrimental?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(1), pages 63-82.
    7. Elyasiani, Elyas & Zhang, Ling, 2015. "Bank holding company performance, risk, and “busy” board of directors," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 239-251.
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    Cited by:

    1. Suwongrat Papangkorn & Pattanaporn Chatjuthamard & Pornsit Jiraporn & Sirisak Chueykamhang, 2021. "Female directors and firm performance: Evidence from the Great Recession," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 21(2), pages 598-610, June.
    2. Nattarinee Denlertchaikul & Pattanaporn Chatjuthamard & Pornsit Jiraporn & Piyachart Phiromswad, 2022. "The Interaction Effect of Text-Based Corporate Innovation and Economic Policy Uncertainty on Firm Performance," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(4), pages 21582440221, November.
    3. Chatjuthamard, Pattanaporn & Wongboonsin, Patcharawalai & Kongsompong, Kritika & Jiraporn, Pornsit, 2020. "How do socially controversial companies do during a stressful time? Evidence from the Great Recession," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    4. Kim, Keunyoung, 2022. "When are busy boards beneficial?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 437-454.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    busy directors; multiple directorships; multiple board seats; corporate governance; financial crisis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

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