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Managing reputation: Evidence from biographies of corporate directors

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  • Gow, Ian D.
  • Wahid, Aida Sijamic
  • Yu, Gwen

Abstract

We examine how directors’ reputations are managed through disclosure choices. We focus on disclosures in the director biographies filed with the SEC. We find that a directorship on another board is more likely to be undisclosed when the other firm experienced an adverse event—such as an accounting restatement, securities litigation, or bankruptcy—during the director's tenure. Withholding such information is associated with a more favorable stock price reaction to the director's appointment and the loss of fewer subsequent directorships. These findings suggest that reputation concerns lead to strategic disclosure choices that have real consequences in capital and labor markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Gow, Ian D. & Wahid, Aida Sijamic & Yu, Gwen, 2018. "Managing reputation: Evidence from biographies of corporate directors," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 448-469.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaecon:v:66:y:2018:i:2:p:448-469
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2018.08.009
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    Cited by:

    1. Xiaoqian Zhu & Yinghui Wang & Jianping Li, 2022. "What drives reputational risk? Evidence from textual risk disclosures in financial statements," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-15, December.
    2. Street, Daniel A. & Hermanson, Dana R., 2019. "How do restatements affect outside directors and boards? A review of the literature," Journal of Accounting Literature, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 19-46.
    3. Xian Gu & Iftekhar Hasan & Haitian Lu, 2023. "Institutions and Corporate Reputation: Evidence from Public Debt Markets," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 183(1), pages 165-189, February.
    4. Guoli Chen & Craig Crossland & Sterling Huang, 2020. "That Could Have Been Me: Director Deaths, CEO Mortality Salience, and Corporate Prosocial Behavior," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(7), pages 3142-3161, July.
    5. Haw, In-Mu & Song, Byron Y. & Tan, Weiqiang & Wang, Wenming, 2021. "Bankruptcy, overlapping directors, and bank loan pricing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    6. Stephanie F. Cheng & Gus De Franco & Haibo Jiang & Pengkai Lin, 2019. "Riding the Blockchain Mania: Public Firms’ Speculative 8-K Disclosures," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(12), pages 5901-5913, December.
    7. Thomas Rauter, 2020. "The Effect of Mandatory Extraction Payment Disclosures on Corporate Payment and Investment Policies Abroad," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(5), pages 1075-1116, December.
    8. Scott D. Dyreng & Jeffrey L. Hoopes & Patrick Langetieg & Jaron H. Wilde, 2020. "Strategic Subsidiary Disclosure," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(3), pages 643-692, June.
    9. Miller, Darius, 2018. "Discussion of “Managing reputation: Evidence from biographies of corporate directors✰," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 470-475.

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