IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/revfin/v24y2015icp52-64.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Board independence and corporate investments

Author

Listed:
  • Lu, Jun
  • Wang, Wei

Abstract

This research investigates whether and how board independence influences corporate investment decisions in a Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) framework, where the capital investment and the research and development (R&D) investment are examined simultaneously. We argue that the free cash flow problem primarily inflicts capital investments, while the managerial conservatism mainly undercuts the more risky R&D investments. Consistent with independent board mitigating both agency problems, we find that firms with a higher degree of board independence is negatively associated with capital investments but positively associated with R&D investments, after controlling for common determinants of investments. We address the endogeneity of board independence by exploiting an exogenous change in board structure brought about by the Sarbanes–Oxley Act (SOX) and continue to find consistent results.

Suggested Citation

  • Lu, Jun & Wang, Wei, 2015. "Board independence and corporate investments," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 52-64.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:revfin:v:24:y:2015:i:c:p:52-64
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rfe.2015.01.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1058330015000026
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rfe.2015.01.001?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. Vidhi Chhaochharia & Yaniv Grinstein, 2009. "CEO Compensation and Board Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(1), pages 231-261, February.
    2. Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2003. "Enjoying the Quiet Life? Corporate Governance and Managerial Preferences," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(5), pages 1043-1075, October.
    3. Michael C. Jensen, 2010. "The Modern Industrial Revolution, Exit, and the Failure of Internal Control Systems," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 22(1), pages 43-58, January.
    4. Lang, Larry H. P. & Stulz, ReneM. & Walkling, Ralph A., 1991. "A test of the free cash flow hypothesis*1: The case of bidder returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 315-335, October.
    5. Lucian A. Bebchuk & Michael S. Weisbach, 2012. "The State of Corporate Governance Research," Springer Books, in: Sabri Boubaker & Bang Dang Nguyen & Duc Khuong Nguyen (ed.), Corporate Governance, edition 127, pages 325-346, Springer.
    6. Yakov Amihud & Baruch Lev, 1981. "Risk Reduction as a Managerial Motive for Conglomerate Mergers," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 12(2), pages 605-617, Autumn.
    7. Hirshleifer, David & Thakor, Anjan V, 1992. "Managerial Conservatism, Project Choice, and Debt," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 5(3), pages 437-470.
    8. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1986. "Large Shareholders and Corporate Control," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(3), pages 461-488, June.
    9. Ryan, Harley Jr. & Wiggins, Roy III, 2004. "Who is in whose pocket? Director compensation, board independence, and barriers to effective monitoring," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(3), pages 497-524, September.
    10. Zvi Griliches, 1984. "Market Value, R&D, and Patents," NBER Chapters, in: R&D, Patents, and Productivity, pages 249-252, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Sean Cleary, 1999. "The Relationship between Firm Investment and Financial Status," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(2), pages 673-692, April.
    12. Paul Gompers & Joy Ishii & Andrew Metrick, 2003. "Corporate Governance and Equity Prices," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(1), pages 107-156.
    13. Nadiri, M Ishaq & Prucha, Ingmar R, 1996. "Estimation of the Depreciation Rate of Physical and R&D Capital in the U.S. Total Manufacturing Sector," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 34(1), pages 43-56, January.
    14. Brown, James R. & Petersen, Bruce C., 2009. "Why has the investment-cash flow sensitivity declined so sharply? Rising R&D and equity market developments," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 971-984, May.
    15. Tobin, James, 1969. "A General Equilibrium Approach to Monetary Theory," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 1(1), pages 15-29, February.
    16. Jarrad Harford & Sattar A. Mansi & William F. Maxwell, 2012. "Corporate Governance and Firm Cash Holdings in the U.S," Springer Books, in: Sabri Boubaker & Bang Dang Nguyen & Duc Khuong Nguyen (ed.), Corporate Governance, edition 127, pages 107-138, Springer.
    17. Stulz, ReneM., 1990. "Managerial discretion and optimal financing policies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 3-27, July.
    18. Dong, Jing & Gou, Yan-nan, 2010. "Corporate governance structure, managerial discretion, and the R&D investment in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 180-188, April.
    19. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    20. Yermack, David, 1996. "Higher market valuation of companies with a small board of directors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 185-211, February.
    21. Hermalin, Benjamin E & Weisbach, Michael S, 1998. "Endogenously Chosen Boards of Directors and Their Monitoring of the CEO," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(1), pages 96-118, March.
    22. Pakes, Ariel & Schankerman, Mark A., 1978. "The Rate of Obsolescence of Knowledge, Research Gestation Labs, and the Private Rate of Return to Research Resources," Working Papers 78-13, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University.
    23. Henrik Cronqvist & Rüdiger Fahlenbrach, 2009. "Large Shareholders and Corporate Policies," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(10), pages 3941-3976, October.
    24. Billett, Matthew T. & Garfinkel, Jon A. & Jiang, Yi, 2011. "The influence of governance on investment: Evidence from a hazard model," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(3), pages 643-670.
    25. Weisbach, Michael S., 1988. "Outside directors and CEO turnover," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 431-460, January.
    26. Klein, April, 1998. "Firm Performance and Board Committee Structure," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 41(1), pages 275-303, April.
    27. Beatriz Garcia Osma, 2008. "Board Independence and Real Earnings Management: The Case of R&D Expenditure," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(2), pages 116-131, March.
    28. Hayashi, Fumio, 1982. "Tobin's Marginal q and Average q: A Neoclassical Interpretation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(1), pages 213-224, January.
    29. Cotter, James F. & Shivdasani, Anil & Zenner, Marc, 1997. "Do independent directors enhance target shareholder wealth during tender offers?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 195-218, February.
    30. Thakor, Anjan V., 1993. "Information, Investment Horizon, and Price Reactions," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(4), pages 459-482, December.
    31. Klaus Gugler, 2003. "Corporate governance and investment," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(3), pages 261-289.
    32. 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.
    33. Core, John & Guay, Wayne, 1999. "The use of equity grants to manage optimal equity incentive levels," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 151-184, December.
    34. Yim, Soojin, 2013. "The acquisitiveness of youth: CEO age and acquisition behavior," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 250-273.
    35. Uri Ben-Zion, 1984. "The R&D and Investment Decision and Its Relationship to the Firm's Market Value: Some Preliminary Results," NBER Chapters, in: R&D, Patents, and Productivity, pages 299-314, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    36. Louis K. C. Chan & Josef Lakonishok & Theodore Sougiannis, 2001. "The Stock Market Valuation of Research and Development Expenditures," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(6), pages 2431-2456, December.
    37. Coles, Jeffrey L. & Daniel, Naveen D. & Naveen, Lalitha, 2006. "Managerial incentives and risk-taking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 431-468, February.
    38. Aggarwal, Rajesh K. & Samwick, Andrew A., 2006. "Empire-builders and shirkers: Investment, firm performance, and managerial incentives," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 489-515, June.
    39. Cohen, Wesley M & Levinthal, Daniel A, 1989. "Innovation and Learning: The Two Faces of R&D," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(397), pages 569-596, September.
    40. Brickley, James A & James, Christopher M, 1987. "The Takeover Market, Corporate Board Composition, and Ownership Structure: The Case of Banking," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 30(1), pages 161-180, April.
    41. Christopher A. Hennessy, 2004. "Tobin's "Q", Debt Overhang, and Investment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(4), pages 1717-1742, August.
    42. Jarrad Harford, 1999. "Corporate Cash Reserves and Acquisitions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(6), pages 1969-1997, December.
    43. Smith, Clifford W. & Stulz, René M., 1985. "The Determinants of Firms' Hedging Policies," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(4), pages 391-405, December.
    44. Duchin, Ran & Matsusaka, John G. & Ozbas, Oguzhan, 2010. "When are outside directors effective?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 195-214, May.
    45. Byrd, John W. & Hickman, Kent A., 1992. "Do outside directors monitor managers? *1: Evidence from tender offer bids," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 195-221, October.
    46. Lev, Baruch & Sougiannis, Theodore, 1996. "The capitalization, amortization, and value-relevance of R&D," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 107-138, February.
    47. Bernstein, Jeffrey I. & Mamuneas, Theofanis P., 2006. "R&D depreciation, stocks, user costs and productivity growth for US R&D intensive industries," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 70-98, January.
    48. Coles, Jeffrey L. & Daniel, Naveen D. & Naveen, Lalitha, 2008. "Boards: Does one size fit all," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 329-356, February.
    49. Bargeron, Leonce L. & Lehn, Kenneth M. & Zutter, Chad J., 2010. "Sarbanes-Oxley and corporate risk-taking," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1-2), pages 34-52, February.
    50. Bhagat, Sanjai & Welch, Ivo, 1995. "Corporate research & development investments international comparisons," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2-3), pages 443-470, April.
    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. Rodrigues, Ricardo & Samagaio, António & Felício, Teresa, 2020. "Corporate governance and R&D investment by European listed companies," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 289-295.
    2. Chen, Ruiyuan (Ryan) & Guedhami, Omrane & Yang, Yang & Zaynutdinova, Gulnara R., 2020. "Corporate governance and cash holdings: Evidence from worldwide board reforms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    3. Fabrizio Rossi & Richard J. Cebula, 2015. "Does the Board of Directors Affect the Extent of Corporate R&D? Evidence from Italian listed companies," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 35(4), pages 2567-2580.
    4. Ozbek, O. Volkan, 2021. "Market Performance of Spun-Off Subsidiaries: Effects of Board Independence and Directors’ Industry Experience," American Business Review, Pompea College of Business, University of New Haven, vol. 24(1), pages 249-267, May.
    5. Fan, Rui & Pan, Jianping & Yu, Minggui & Gao, Hao, 2022. "Corporate governance of controlling shareholders and labor employment decisions: Evidence from a parent board reform in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    6. Sin-Huei Ng & Tze San Ong & Boon Heng Teh, 2019. "An Agency Perspective on Firm Diversification, Efficiency and Performance: Evidence From Malaysia," International Journal of Financial Research, International Journal of Financial Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 10(6), pages 24-41, October.
    7. An, Suwei, 2023. "Essays on incentive contracts, M&As, and firm risk," Other publications TiSEM dd97d2f5-1c9d-47c5-ba62-f, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    8. Vedika Saxena & Seshadev Sahoo, 2020. "Determinants of Intercorporate Investments: An Empirical Investigation of Indian Firms," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-15, December.
    9. Lu, Jun & Wang, Wei, 2018. "Managerial conservatism, board independence and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 1-16.
    10. Sujuan Xie & Yue Xu & Yamin Zeng & Junsheng Zhang, 2019. "Ultimate parent board reform and corporate overinvestment: a quasi‐natural experiment study," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 58(5), pages 1469-1501, March.

    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. Jun Lu & Wei Wang, 2015. "Board independence and corporate investments," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(1), pages 52-64, January.
    2. Lu, Jun & Wang, Wei, 2018. "Managerial conservatism, board independence and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 1-16.
    3. Andreou, Panayiotis C. & Louca, Christodoulos & Panayides, Photis M., 2014. "Corporate governance, financial management decisions and firm performance: Evidence from the maritime industry," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 59-78.
    4. Aman, Hiroyuki & Nguyen, Pascal, 2013. "Does good governance matter to debtholders? Evidence from the credit ratings of Japanese firms," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 14-34.
    5. Byung S. Min, 2018. "Effects of Outsider’s Monitoring on Capital Structure and Corporate Growth Strategy: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(2), pages 459-475, October.
    6. Naeem Tabassum & Satwinder Singh, 2020. "Corporate Governance and Organisational Performance," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-030-48527-6, September.
    7. Chi, Jianxin Daniel & Scott Lee, D., 2010. "The conditional nature of the value of corporate governance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 350-361, February.
    8. Chari, Murali D.R. & David, Parthiban & Duru, Augustine & Zhao, Yijiang, 2019. "Bowman's risk-return paradox: An agency theory perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 357-375.
    9. Kathy Fogel & Liping Ma & Randall Morck, 2021. "Powerful independent directors," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 50(4), pages 935-983, December.
    10. Schmidt, Breno, 2015. "Costs and benefits of friendly boards during mergers and acquisitions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(2), pages 424-447.
    11. Pascal Nguyen & Nahid Rahman, 2015. "Which governance characteristics affect the incidence of divestitures in Australia?," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 40(2), pages 351-374, May.
    12. Benson, Bradley W. & Chen, Yu & James, Hui L. & Park, Jung Chul, 2020. "So far away from me: Firm location and the managerial ownership effect on firm value," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    13. Showkat Ahmad Busru & G. Shanmugasundaram & Shariq Ahmad Bhat, 2020. "Corporate Governance an Imperative for Stakeholders Protection: Evidence from Risk Management of Indian Listed Firms," Business Perspectives and Research, , vol. 8(2), pages 89-116, July.
    14. Minnick, Kristina & Noga, Tracy, 2010. "Do corporate governance characteristics influence tax management?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 703-718, December.
    15. Ferreira, Daniel & Ferreira, Miguel A. & Raposo, Clara C., 2011. "Board structure and price informativeness," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(3), pages 523-545, March.
    16. Ahn, Seoungpil & Shrestha, Keshab, 2013. "The differential effects of classified boards on firm value," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 3993-4013.
    17. Loureiro, Gilberto & Makhija, Anil K. & Zhang, Dan, 2011. "Why Do Some CEOs Work for a One-Dollary Salary?," Working Paper Series 2011-7, Ohio State University, Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics.
    18. Hussein Abedi Shamsabadi & Byung-Seong Min & Richard Chung, 2016. "Corporate governance and dividend strategy: lessons from Australia," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(5), pages 583-610, October.
    19. Adam, Tim R. & Fernando, Chitru S. & Salas, Jesus M., 2017. "Why do firms engage in selective hedging? Evidence from the gold mining industry," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 269-282.
    20. Coles, Jeffrey L. & Daniel, Naveen D. & Naveen, Lalitha, 2008. "Boards: Does one size fit all," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 329-356, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Capital investment; R&D investment; Agency problem; Board independence; SUR;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:revfin:v:24:y:2015:i:c:p:52-64. 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/inca/620170 .

    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.