The disclosure of directors' share option information in UK companies

This paper considers the empirical determinants of the quality of information disclosed about directors’ share options in a sample of large companies in 1994 and 1995. Policy recommendations, consolidated in the recommendations of the Greenbury report, argue for full and complete disclosure of director option information. In this paper two modest contributions to the UK empirical literature are made. First, the current degree of option information disclosure in the FTSE 350 companies is documented. Second, option information disclosure as a function of variables that are thought to in¯uence corporate costs of disclosure is modelled. The results have implications for corporate governance. Speci®cally, support is oVered for the monitoring function of nonexecutive directors. In addition, nondisclosure is found to be related to variables which proxy proprietary costs of revealing information (such as company size).

The board of directors, executives and risk knowledge management

Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and Knowledge Management (KM) both encompass top-down and bottom-up approaches developing and embedding risk knowledge concepts and processes in strategy, policies, risk appetite definition, the decision-making process and business processes. The capacity to transfer risk knowledge affects all stakeholders and understanding of the risk knowledge about the enterprise's value is a key requirement in order to identify protection strategies for business sustainability. There are various factors that affect this capacity for transferring and understanding. Previous work has established that there is a difference between the influence of KM variables on Risk Control and on the perceived value of ERM. Communication among groups appears as a significant variable in improving Risk Control but only as a weak factor in improving the perceived value of ERM. However, the ERM mandate requires for its implementation a clear understanding, of risk management (RM) policies, actions and results, and the use of the integral view of RM as a governance and compliance program to support the value driven management of the organization. Furthermore, ERM implementation demands better capabilities for unification of the criteria of risk analysis, alignment of policies and protection guidelines across the organization. These capabilities can be affected by risk knowledge sharing between the RM group and the Board of Directors and other executives in the organization. This research presents an exploratory analysis of risk knowledge transfer variables used in risk management practice. A survey to risk management executives from 65 firms in various industries was undertaken and 108 answers were analyzed. Potential relationships among the variables are investigated using descriptive statistics and multivariate statistical models. The level of understanding of risk management policies and reports by the board is related to the quality of the flow of communication in the firm and perceived level of integration of the risk policy in the business processes.

Corporate governance and the central factors influencing the roles of public and private sector board directors in the United Kingdom

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Pathways to leadership:board independence, diversity, and the emerging pipeline in the US for women directors

In the wake of this decade's corporate scandals, crimes and excesses, improving the effectiveness of corporate governance in the United States has become a priority. An important influence on a board's effectiveness at monitoring is its members’ degree of independence from senior management. While the current definition of independence revolves around the absence of familial and economic connections between a firm and its directors, research suggests that this standard may be inadequate in ensuring independent oversight. Rather, diversity along racial, gender and other dimensions has been proposed as a potentially more effective standard for board independence. This is especially welcome news for women, who currently comprise 51 per cent of the US managerial workforce but only 14.8 per cent of the directors on boards of large, publicly traded US corporations. Some explain the current dearth of women board members by claiming that there are no qualified women available for board service and/or that women are not interested in board service. However, there is more anecdotal rather than empirical evidence on the issue. Surveying women at a women's leadership conference in Boston, this research investigates the extent to which women are currently involved in some type of board service and the extent to which women aspire to future board service. We find that women are currently more active in governance activities than prior research on corporate boards suggests and that they aspire to play a continued and expanded role in governance activities.

Do women earn less even as social entrepreneurs? The gender pay gap among UK social enterprise directors

Based upon unique survey data collected using respondent driven sampling methods, we investigate whether there is a gender pay gap among social entrepreneurs in the UK. We find that women as social entrepreneurs earn 29% less than their male colleagues, above the average UK gender pay gap of 19%. We estimate the adjusted pay gap to be about 23% after controlling for a range of demographic, human capital and job characteristics, as well as personal preferences and values. These differences are hard to explain by discrimination since these CEOs set their own pay. Income may not be the only aim in an entrepreneurial career, so we also look at job satisfaction to proxy for non-monetary returns. We find female social entrepreneurs to be more satisfied with their job as a CEO of a social enterprise than their male counterparts. This result holds even when we control for the salary generated through the social enterprise. Our results extend research in labour economics on the gender pay gap as well as entrepreneurship research on women’s entrepreneurship to the novel context of social enterprise. It provides the first evidence for a “contented female social entrepreneur” paradox.

Adult education directors' perceptions of performance indicators for adult education programs in the state of Florida

Current demands for accountability in education emphasize outcome-based program evaluation and tie program funding to individual student performance. As has been the case for elementary and secondary programs, demands for accountability have increased pressure on adult educators to show evidence of the benefits of their programs in order to justify their financial support. In Florida, recent legislation fundamentally changes the delivery of adult education in the state by establishing a performance-based funding system that is based on outcomes related to the retention, completion, and employment of program participants.^ A performance-based funding system requires an evaluation process that stresses outcome indicators over indicators that focus on program context or process. Although the state has adopted indicators of program quality to evaluate its adult education programs, these indicators focus mostly on program processes rather than student outcomes. In addition, the indicators are not specifically tied to workforce development outcomes, a priority to federal and local funding agents.^ Improving the accountability of adult education programs and defining the role of these programs in Florida's Workforce Development System has become a priority to policy makers across the state. Another priority has been to involve adult education practitioners in every step of this process.^ This study was conducted in order to determine what performance indicators, as judged by the directors and supervisors of adult education programs in the state of Florida, are important and feasible in measuring the quality and effectiveness of these programs. The results of the study indicated that, both statewide and by region, the respondents consistently gave the highest ratings on both importance and feasibility to the indicators of Program Context, which reflect the needs, composition, and structure of the programs, and to the indicators of Educational Gain, which reflect learner progress in the attainment of basic skills and competencies. In turn, the respondents gave the lowest ratings on both importance and feasibility to the indicators in the areas of Return on State's Investment, Efficiency, Retention, and Workforce Training. In general, the indicators that received high ratings for importance also received high ratings for feasibility. ^

An investigation of the relationships between selected characteristics and leadership outcomes of Athletic Training Education Program directors

There is currently no evidence describing what characteristics make an Athletic Training Program Director (PD) an effective leader. An influx of accredited programs resulted in a rapid increase in the demand for PDs, yet training and preparation for these positions has failed to evolve. Although Certified Athletic Trainers (ATs) are trained in specific content areas, they may not always be prepared for the administrative and leadership responsibilities associated with the role of PD (Leone, 2008). This dissertation examined the relationships between selected characteristics and leadership outcomes of Athletic Training Program Directors. Each PD participants (n=27) completed a demographic questionnaire to obtain the leader's academic preparation, accreditation experience and leadership training history. Each participant also completed the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) to obtain leadership styles, behaviors, and outcomes. Overall, the PDs reported utilizing transformational leadership most often and passive avoidant leadership least often. There was no significant difference between PDs with master's and doctorate degrees on overall leadership outcome. However, participants with a doctorate degree scored significantly different on the effectiveness component of the leadership outcome compared with participants with a master's degree. Those participants who have completed academic coursework on leadership scored significantly different on the leadership outcome compared to those who have not completed academic coursework on leadership. Findings from this study indicate that changes to the current requirements for the role of PD may be warranted. Consideration should be given to increasing the minimum degree requirement and requiring academic coursework on leadership. Future research may be useful in determining specific degree guidelines and types and amounts of leadership training that would be beneficial to Athletic Training PDs.

Hotel Human Resources Directors Identify Ethical Issues

Hotel human resources directors report that the most important ethical issues they face are a lack of work ethic, drug use, and employee theft. When asked about ethical problems experienced in their own hotels. Managers’ report that employees' lack of respect for each other, racial and gender conflicts, guest abuse, dishonesty, and homosexual issues are the biggest problems. The author discusses these ethical dilemmas and suggests ways they can be addressed.

Leadership Styles, Behaviors, and Outcomes of Athletic Training Education Program Directors

Context: With the increase in athletic training education programs, the demand for a highly qualified faculty member to serve as program director (PD) and fill the multiple roles and responsibilities of the position has increased. A successful PD must possess leadership skills crucial for the evolving academic environment. Research suggests that educational leaders must provide both transactional and transformational leadership if athletic trainers are to secure a legitimate place as healthcare providers. Objective: To describe the leadership styles and behaviors of athletic training education PDs and to describe the associations between leadership style, behavior, outcome, and experience. Design: We will utilize a survey design to identify the leadership styles, behaviors, outcomes, and experiences of athletic training education PDs. Setting: On-line questionnaire. Participants: The population of this study will be limited to the academic PDs of the 360 accredited entry-level athletic training education programs in the United States. Intervention: The investigation will utilize the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). The MLQ is a validated tool composed of 45 items that identify and measure key leadership and effectiveness behaviors shown to be strongly linked with both individual and organizational success. In addition to the leader, it is recommended that all persons working above, below, and directly at the same organizational level as the leader rate the leader. Raters evaluate how frequently, or to what degree, they have observed the leader engage in 32 specific behaviors. Main Outcome Measure(s): Statistical analysis will be utilized to describe the associations between leadership styles, behaviors, outcomes, and experiences.

What does board capital really bring to the table? Exploring the effect of directors' human and social capital on effective governance during international expansion

What constitutes effective corporate governance? Which director characteristics render boards effective at positively influencing firm-level performance outcomes? This dissertation examines these questions by taking a multilevel, multidisciplinary approach to corporate governance. I explore the individual-, team-, and firm- level factors that enable directors to serve effectively as strategic resources during international expansion. I argue that directors' international experience improves their ability to serve as effective strategic consultants and resource providers to firms during the complex internationalization process. However, unlike prior research, which tends to assume that directors with the potential to provide important resources uniformly do so, I acknowledge contextual factors (i.e. board cohesiveness, strategic relevance of directors' experience) that affect their propensity to actually influence outcomes. I explore these issues in three essays: one review essay and two empirical essays.^ In the first empirical essay, I integrate resource dependence theory with insights from social-psychological research to explore the influence of board capital on firms' cross-border M&A performance. Using a sample of cross-border M&As completed by S&P 500 firms from 2004-2009, I find evidence that directors' depth of international experience is associated with superior pre-deal outcomes. This suggests that boards' deep, market-specific knowledge is valuable during the target selection phase. I further find that directors' breadth of international experience is associated with superior post-deal performance, suggesting that these directors' global mindset helps firms in the post-M&A integration phase. I also find that these relationships are positively moderated by board cohesiveness, measured by boards' internal social ties.^ In the second empirical essay, I explore the boundary conditions of international board capital by examining how the characteristics of firms' internationalization strategy moderate the relationship between board capital and firm performance. Using a panel of 377 S&P 500 firms observed from 2004-2011, I find that boards' depth of international experience and social capital are more important during early stages of internationalization, when firms tend to lack market knowledge and legitimacy in the host markets. On the other hand, I find that breadth of international experience has a stronger relationship with performance when firms' have higher scope of internationalization, when information-processing demands are higher.^

Can Compensation Committees Effectively Mitigate the CEO Horizon Problem? The Role of Co-opted Directors

Extant research finds inconclusive evidence about the CEO horizon problem. One possibility is that compensation committees design CEO compensation in a way that discourages retiring CEOs from opportunistic earnings management and R&D reduction. However, compensation committees dominated by co-opted directors may not be as effective as those with fewer co-opted directors in mitigating the CEO horizon problem, because directors co-opted by the CEO tend to bias their decisions in favor of the CEO. I find that compensation committees dominated by co-opted directors are associated with higher CEO compensation packages. I document R&D reduction and accruals management in firms with retiring CEOs and compensation committees dominated by co-opted directors, and find that R&D reduction and income-increasing accruals are less discouraged by compensation committees dominated by co-opted directors when deciding CEO compensation. I also examine the effect of boards of directors and compensation committee characteristics on CEO compensation and on mitigating the CEO horizon problem. I find that CEO compensation positively associates with CEO power, director independence, and the percentage of busy directors, and negatively associates with board of directors and committee size and director ownership. Moreover, I find that retiring CEOs are more likely to reduce R&D expenditures when CEOs have more power, and director tenure is longer; retiring CEOs in firms with large boards of directors and compensation committees are less likely to manage accruals.