Employee stock ownership and financial performance in European countries: The moderating effects of uncertainty avoidance and social trust

This study investigates how the effect of employee stock ownership on financial performance may hinge on the diverse cultural and societal contexts of European countries. Based on agency and national culture theories, we hypothesize that the positive relationship between employee stock ownership and return on assets (ROA) is stronger in those nations with lower uncertainty avoidance and higher social trust. Using a multisource, time‐lagged, large‐scale dataset of 1,741 firms from 21 countries in Europe, our multilevel, random coefficient modeling analysis found evidence for these hypotheses, suggesting that uncertainty avoidance and social trust serve as important contextual cues in predicting the linkage between employee stock ownership and financial performance. Our supplemental analysis with distinction between the managerial and nonmanagerial employee stock ownership further indicates managerial employee stock ownership has a direct positive effect on ROA. Although nonmanagerial employee stock ownership had a nonsignificant association with ROA, the relationship was positive and significant when uncertainty avoidance was low and social trust was high. This research contributes to the existing literature by illuminating some of the contextual influences altering the effectiveness of employee stock ownership. Our findings also offer practical suggestions for effectively using employee stock ownership.     

Understanding employee preferences for investing in employer stock: evidence from France

In this article, we broaden the focus of existing research on employee stock purchase plans by analysing employee preferences for investing in employer stock as a construct distinct from actual investment behaviour. In our analysis of original survey data in a sample of 900 employees in four French companies, we find that employee preferences are influenced by two common cognitive heuristics (representativeness and familiarity), organisational commitment, the perceived quality of corporate communications about these plans and perceived managerial commitment to employee ownership. We did not find, however, that risk aversion, turnover intentions or perceived employee involvement in decision making influenced preferences for investing in employer stock. Our findings have both theoretical and practical implications for understanding and operating these types of employee benefit plans, which are becoming more common across the globe.     

The dynamic investment and exit decisions of venture capitals

This study develops a continuous time model to examine a complete two-stage decision process for venture capitals (VCs), including investment in the private market at Stage 1 and exit through IPO in the public market at Stage 2. Optimal timings, investment terms, and exit decisions are investigated using the real options game theory under two cases: the same required returns in the public and private markets and a higher required return in the private market than in the public market. Our results indicate that the same required returns in the public and private markets generate an optimal investment decision at Stage 1 without relation to the exit decision in Stage 2. However, when the required return in the private market is higher than that in the public market, the exit decision will influence the investment decision. The size of the initial capital, ownership structure, growth rate and risk of industry, required returns in public and private capital markets, extent of lock-up period price pressure, and transaction costs of financing are important factors influencing the equilibrium results.     

Litigation costs and the underpricing of initial public offerings

This paper examines a risk-averse entrepreneur's motivation to underprice an initial public offering of equity where the entrepreneur faces the threat of litigation by outside investors. Outside investors have an incentive to seek compensation via tort law and the Securities Act of 1933 should the stock price fall subsequent to their purchase of the IPO. Potential litigation costs motivate the entrepreneur to underprice the IPO in a tradeoff between the litigation cost and the up-front opportunity loss of underpricing. In a single-period model, this paper formalizes the entrepreneur's pricing and retained ownership decisions resulting in ten testable hypotheses.     

The Impact of Employee Share Ownership Plans On Employee Participation and Industrial Democracy

This article examines employee participation in recently-formed employee share ownership plan organisations (ESOPS) in the UK. the various legal/institutional forms of ESOP are outlined prior to considering the nature and determinants of participative institutions and processes. It is suggested that there are three ‘constellations’ of ESOP in terms of employee participation:‘technical ESOPS’, ‘paternalist ESOPs’ and ‘representative ESOPs’. There are relatively few innovations in participation in the first of these, while in paternalist ESOPs, innovations centre on individualistic forms of participation and communication at the level of the workplace. In representative ESOPs employees gain more of a say in strategic decisions through such innovations as employee representation on company boards. It is argued that these differences in the nature of participation are due neither to differences in legal structure nor to variations in the extent of employee share ownership. Instead, participative systems are viewed as the outcome of the philosophies and objectives of those involved in the conversion to employee ownership.     

The influence of private equity and venture capital on the post-IPO performance of newly-public acquirers

This paper examines the influence of private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) ownership on the post-initial public offering (IPO) performance of newly-public acquirers. Our results show that acquirers with PE- or VC-backing at the time of the IPO perform better long-term than acquirers without such backing. More importantly, while acquirers without financial backing experience negative long-run returns from first-year acquisitions, acquirers with continued PE- and VC-backing perform significantly better when making acquisitions within the first year after going public. However, acquiring firms and investors should be aware that for mergers in the second and third year post-IPO, continued VC ownership has a detrimental long-term impact. In contrast, higher levels of continued PE ownership tend to have a positive relationship with long-run performance.     

Psychological ownership and organizational optimism amid China's corporate transformation: effects of an employee ownership scheme and a management-dominated board

Ownership reform was introduced to Chinese state-owned enterprises in the early 1990s, to allow employees to own a share of their enterprises and to bring changes to the underlying structure of governance. However, effectiveness of this reform has yet to be ascertained. This study examines the effects of the new employee stock ownership scheme and board compositions on the attitudes employees hold towards their jobs and organizations, as well as their perceptions of ownership. We developed a theoretical model on how participation in a stock ownership scheme (an employee's characteristic) and the composition of the board of governance (a firm characteristic) may be linked to job satisfaction and, in turn, to outcome variables such as psychological ownership and organizational optimism. This model was tested on 510 employees randomly sampled from ten stock-holding enterprises in urban Shanghai. Results indicate that participation in a stock ownership scheme has a positive effect on attitudes towards ownership, but that a board dominated by senior managers leads to gloomy perception of a firm's future. These effects were partially mediated by the satisfaction that employees felt in their jobs. The implications of these findings for management practices in China are discussed.     

All for one and one for all: A mechanism through which broad‐based employee stock ownership and employee‐perceived involvement practice create a productive workforce

Drawing on social identity theory, this research frames a multimediational model that delineates how broad‐based employee stock ownership (BESO) and employee‐perceived involvement practice in tandem yield a productive workforce at the organization level. In our theoretical model, we propose that social cohesion and voluntary turnover are collective attitudinal and behavioral outcomes resulting from the shared perception of we‐ness that employees experience through both participatory practices. Our path analysis of a multisource, time‐lagged dataset from 176 large U.S. companies revealed the sequential mediating roles of social cohesion and voluntary turnover between these organizational practices and labor productivity. Our theoretical claims and empirical evidence will contribute to a systematic understanding of how and why BESO and employee involvement leverage greater organizational productivity from employees.     

基于券商声誉理论对IPO抑价的解释及对策

IPO兴起于20世纪90年代末的美国,当时美国正经历科技股泡沫。IPO的定价效率直接影响着证券市场的运行效率及资源配置功能的强弱。随着证券市场在我国经济发展中所扮演的越来越重要的角色,如何解释IPO抑价问题在我国也正引起更多学者的关注。券商声誉理论被认为是保证券商信息可信性的重要理论,企业在进行IPO时可以通过选择高声誉的券商来向投资者传递有关自身价值的信息。     

Employee ownership in enterprises in Africa and Asia

This paper examines wider employee share ownership in developing and newly industrializing countries with particular emphasis on Africa and Asia. The first section reviews the available evidence on the extent of wider employee share ownership. The second identifies the key issues relating to the implementation of wider employee share ownership: the objectives for employee ownership, the financing of employees' stakes, the role of trade unions, employee participation in decisions and the life-cycle of employee ownership. It is suggested that attempts to develop employee ownership face similar, but more intense, problems as in advanced industrialized nations. A wide-ranging research agenda is identified.     

Employee ownership and firm performance: a meta‐analysis

Employee ownership has been an area of significant practitioner and academic interest for the past four decades. Yet, empirical results on the relationship between employee ownership and firm performance remain mixed. To aggregate findings and provide potential direction for future theoretical development, we conducted a meta‐analysis of 102 samples representing 56,984 firms. Employee ownership has a small, but positive and statistically significant relation to firm performance ( = 0.04). The effect is generally positive for studies with different sampling designs (samples assessing change in performance pre‐employee–post‐employee ownership adoption or samples on firms with employee ownership), different performance operationalisation (efficiency or growth) and firm type (publicly held or privately held). Suggesting benefits of employee ownership in a variety of contexts, we found no differences in effects on performance in publicly held versus privately held firms, stock or stock option‐based ownership plans or differences in effects across different firm sizes (i.e. number of employees). We do find that the effect of employee ownership on performance has increased in studies over time and that studies with samples from outside the USA report stronger effects than those within. We also find little to no evidence of publication bias.     

The impact of employee‐share‐ownership schemes on performance in unionised and non‐unionised workplaces

Conventional wisdom suggests that higher performance is observed when employee‐share‐ownership (ESO) schemes coexist with employee participation arrangements. However, the evidence is inconclusive and it has been suggested that performance benefits occur in ESO workplaces only when employees are actually involved in the decision‐making process. Drawing on the cross‐section data from the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey, the article shows that higher productivity is observed in those workplaces where unions coexist with ESO schemes. This result highlights the relevance of unions to High Performance Work Systems.     

Strategic Ownership Positions in U.S. Industry and Banking

A bstract . Strategic ownership position in corporation do not necessarily imply "control" but rather participation in corporate decision making. Strategic positions in the nation's 500 largest industrial corporations and 153 largest financial institutions are described and classified. Types of owners include banks and employee stock plans, financial bolding firms, insurance companies, families and individuals, pension funds , and foreign owners. Results indicate that families continue to hold significant strategic positions in industry (28.5%) and banking (20.4%). These results have certain implications for the theory of "managerialism."     

风险投资机构参与对上市公司IPO前盈余管理的影响——基于创业板上市公司的数据

基于创业板上市公司数据,对风险投资机构参与及其特征对我国上市公司IPO前的盈余管理影响进行实证检验,结果显示：风险投资机构参与对上市公司IPO前的盈余管理起到了积极的认证和监督作用。在我国,政府性资本占主要地位的风险投资机构更多地发挥了正面认证和监督作用。风险投资机构的声誉和数量对上市公司IPO前的盈余管理发挥了较大作用,风险投资机构的声誉越高、数量越多,上市公司IPO前一年的盈余管理程度越低。风险投资机构总持股比例与盈余管理程度无显著关系。     

从人力资本角度论"共"有制

马克思理论认为社会主义取代资本主义的表现形式为产权的私有制转变为公有制,其最高表现形式为共产主义。当前我国在全面建设社会主义市场经济的同时,人们似乎在有意无意地回避共产主义,这种信仰危机将危及人们对马克思理论的理解,从而歪曲并最终放弃马克思理论。本文拟从人力资本角度探讨传统资本主义时代不对等契约下物质股权资本对人力资本的"寻租"与"准租",新经济时代人力资本对经济主体的专用性增强使得人力资本由债权性资本转为股权性资本,物质股权资本与人力资本共同享有剩余收益的索取权,从而在实质上实现"共"有制。     

Friend or foe? Employee ownership and CEO dismissal

This paper examines 2 research questions. First, does the level of employee stock ownership impact the likelihood of dismissing poorly performing chief executive officers (CEOs)? Second, does the level of employee stock ownership affect the likelihood of appointing an outsider or an insider after the dismissal of an incumbent CEO? We suggest that employee stock ownership reinforces the firm performance—CEO dismissal link because employee shareholders' welfare consisting of fixed claims (wages, bonuses, etc.), residual claims (dividends, increase in stock value, etc.), and human capital (generic and idiosyncratic) are highly linked to their firm performance. Moreover, under conditions of poor performance, employee shareholders are likely to favor an outsider CEO because he or she is more likely to initiate and implement drastic changes to the strategy of the firm, and therefore, he or she is more likely to improve firm performance. Drawing on a longitudinal sample of French firms, we find that employee stock ownership strengthens the negative relationship between firm performance and CEO dismissal likelihood. We find also that the higher employee ownership, the more likely that the underperforming CEO is replaced by an outsider. In contrast, employee ownership has no moderating impact on the likelihood of insider CEO appointment.     

创新驱动发展与企业劳动收入份额

选取2012—2020年沪深A股上市公司为样本,实证检验创新驱动发展与企业劳动收入份额之间的关系,以及高管股权激励和员工持股对上述关系的调节效应。研究发现：企业创新驱动发展能够有效提高企业劳动收入份额;实施高管股权激励和员工持股计划均能显著增强上述关系。进一步研究发现,盈利水平发挥了部分中介效应,且当企业处于成长期和衰退期、市场化程度较高的地区以及为非国有企业时,上述关系更显著。研究结论表明,特别是处于成长期与衰退期、市场化程度较高地区的企业,以及非国有企业,大力推动创新驱动发展,并辅之以高管股权激励和员工持股计划,可以提高企业劳动收入份额,实现和谐发展,推进共同富裕目标实现。     

上市公司IPO业绩实证分析——基于广西上市公司的思考

我国上市公司利用证券市场进行首次公开发行股权融资（Initial public offering,以下简称IPO）已经成为一种普遍现象,但上市公司往往存在着募资效率不高、资金闲置或滥用等问题。文章以广西上市公司为样本,运用会计指标法对其IPO绩效进行实证分析;运用主成分分析法对广西上市公司的绩效进行整体检验,探讨上市公司IPO后经营业绩变化的趋势和成因,并就提高广西上市公司IPO后的经营业绩提出了相关的政策性建议。     

The Effect of Family Ownership on Different Dimensions of Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from Large US Firms

Previous research has shown that family firms differ from non‐family firms with regard to aggregate measures of corporate social responsibility (CSR). We argue that CSR is a multidimensional concept that comprises several aspects, which range from employee relations to ecological concerns and product issues. Based on an organizational and family identity perspective, we argue that the effect of family ownership can differ across various CSR dimensions. Family firms can be responsible and irresponsible regarding CSR at the same time. We use a dataset of large US firms to test our hypotheses. Our Bayesian regressions show that family ownership is negatively associated with community‐related CSR performance and positively associated with diversity‐, employee‐, environment‐ and product‐related aspects of CSR. The largest positive effect of family ownership on CSR performance exists with regard to product‐related aspects of CSR. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Employee ownership and affective organizational commitment: employees’ perceptions of fairness and their preference for company shares over cash

Interest in profit-sharing and employee ownership is growing among both practitioners and researchers. This study examines the relationship between the preferences and perceptions of employees regarding an ongoing share ownership plan on the one hand, and the employees’ affective organizational commitment on the other. After controlling for various personal and work-environment characteristics and for size of the financial contribution it was found that preference for ownership and the perceived fairness of the employee ownership plan were significant predictors of affective commitment. These findings support the notion that employee ownership may have intrinsic motivating effects on employees by way of a mediating mechanism, whereby the effects of ownership on organizational commitment depend on how employees evaluate and perceive formal ownership plans.