独立董事薪酬与公司治理效率

利用2003～2013年上市公司数据,本文基于独立董事薪酬视角对其治理效用的发挥进行了考察。研究发现,当独立董事的薪酬过低时,存在激励不足问题,不利于调动独立董事履职的积极性,由此造成公司高管变更与经营业绩间敏感性的降低及公司盈余管理程度的提高。与此相仿,当独立董事的薪酬过高时,存在激励过度问题,削弱了独立董事的独立性,也将导致较低的高管变更与经营业绩的敏感性及更高程度的公司盈余管理。最后,我们对独立董事薪酬影响其治理效用发挥的路径进行了考察,结果显示,过低的薪酬降低了独立董事参加董事会会议的意愿,而过高的薪酬造成独立董事更不会对董事会议案提出异议。     

教授独立董事的“颜值”会影响高管变更吗?——基于中国A股上市公司证据

本文利用2006-2015年中国上市公司数据,实证检验了不同所有权性质的企业,教授背景独立董事对高管变更业绩敏感性之间关系的差异,并检验了教授独立董事的"颜值"对高管变更业绩敏感性的影响。实证结果发现,教授独立董事可以增加高管在企业业绩较差的情况下变更的可能性,而"颜值"较高的教授独立董事可以减弱高管在企业业绩较差的情况下变更的可能性。另外,由于国有企业和民营企业不同的目标函数,使这种关系在国有企业更为明显。进一步研究发现,这种关系在企业聘用211高校的教授作为独立董事时仍然成立。这说明不同教授独立董事在不同环境下对于公司治理有着不同的作用,本文说明了独立董事制度作为外部治理机制的重要性,也证明了部分"花瓶"教授独立董事的存在。     

连锁董事关系网络位置对高管薪酬影响的实证研究

在现代两权分离的股份制公司中,通常是董事会决定高管薪酬。本文以2012年沪市本地上市公司为样本,采用社会网络分析PAJEK与回归分析相结合的方法,考察了连锁董事关系网络位置对高管薪酬的影响。研究结果表明,中心度指标的加入能够增强高管薪酬模型的解释度,说明公司关系网络位置对高管薪酬确有影响,需要作为企业治理与薪酬研究的新兴领域进行后续研究。     

董事网络:定义、特征和计量

董事的行为镶嵌于社会网络,本文定义了"董事通过在董事会同时任职建立的直接和间接联结关系"而形成的董事网络,并从"结点"和"关系"两个维度界定了董事网络的边界;基于社会学的镶嵌理论、弱联结优势理论、结构洞理论和社会资本理论分析了其社会网络特征,也利用社会网络分析方法对董事的网络中心程度进行了计量;最后简析了独立董事在我国上市公司董事网络中的核心地位和如何基于董事网络对独立董事治理行为展开研究。本研究可为我国"社会网络和公司治理"交叉研究的展开提供一定的理论基础。     

上市公司独立董事治理与薪酬契约的比较研究——基于社会网络分析视角

本文首先从高管薪酬业绩敏感性、薪酬粘性的角度,考察了上市保险公司的薪酬契约机制。其次运用社会网络分析方法,比较检验了独立董事网络位置与上市保险公司、上市非保险公司薪酬契约的相互关系。结果显示:我国上市保险公司已经基本确立了与业绩挂钩的薪酬考核机制,但目前同时存在比较明显的薪酬粘性特征;不论是上市保险公司还是上市非保险公司,其独立董事均能在一定程度上对薪酬契约发挥治理作用。本研究丰富了保险公司"网络和治理"尤其是治理机制和薪酬契约的实证研究文献。关于上市保险公司和上市非保险公司的比较检验,对完善上市保险公司独立董事治理和薪酬契约机制提供了有价值的思路和启示。     

独立董事薪酬对盈余管理影响的实证研究

本文以沪深两市2007-2011年的A股上市公司为研究样本,考察了独立董事薪酬对盈余管理的影响。结果表明:独立董事薪酬与盈余管理程度显著正相关;进一步地,相比负向盈余管理,独立董事薪酬对正向盈余管理的影响更加显著;最后,发现业绩好的公司中,独董薪酬与盈余管理程度的正相关关系更为显著。本研究表明,尽管独立董事在一定程度上有能力发现公司盈余管理行为,但因无法有效抑制该行为的发生,所以会要求不同程度的薪酬水平为其违规隐瞒行为寻求风险补偿,而高公司业绩给独立董事的高薪要求创造了条件,从而进一步加剧公司盈余管理水平。     

公司治理水平、董事高管责任保险与盈余管理

董事高管责任保险在董事和高管遭受民事诉讼时具有“兜底”效应,降低了董事高管的执业风险.选取2002-2014年中国A股上市公司为样本,实证检验董事高管责任保险对公司盈余管理的影响,进一步分析在不同公司治理水平下,董事高管责任保险与公司盈余管理的关系是否存在差异.研究结果表明:董事高管责任保险的引入会加剧公司盈余管理行为;随着公司治理水平提高,董事高管责任保险与公司盈余管理的正相关关系减弱.     

母子公司董事高管协同与董事高管责任保险——来自企业集团的经验证据

董事高管责任保险在公司治理中的作用及购买动因日益受到重视.本文以沪深两市A股制造业上市公司为样本,对企业集团框架内母子公司董事高管协同与上市公司董事高管责任保险购买行为的关系进行了研究,并考察了委托人与代理人利益目标的一致性和企业集团产权性质在上述关系中的调节作用.研究发现:第一,母子公司董事高管协同对上市公司董事高管责任保险购买行为,具有显著的负向影响;第二,委托人与代理人利益目标的一致性会弱化上述关系,即上市公司管理层持股比例越高、委托人与代理人利益目标的一致性越强,母子公司董事高管协同对上市公司董事高管责任保险购买行为的负向影响越小;第三,从产权性质看,国有企业集团中母子公司董事高管协同对上市公司董事高管责任保险购买行为的负向影响更强.本文在用固定效应模型和PSM方法进行稳健性检验后,以上结论依旧成立.上述研究结论有助于明晰集团框架内上市公司董事高管责任保险的购买动因,可为实践中母子公司治理结构的优化提供参考借鉴.     

我国独立董事的行为会受到薪酬的影响吗?——来自上市公司兼职独立董事的研究

独立董事制度作为公司治理制度的重要组成部分,受到了实务界和理论界人士的广泛关注,但是却鲜少有研究关注独立董事的行为。以兼职独立董事在不同公司的薪酬和行为为研究样本,分析薪酬和声誉对独立董事的行为的影响,结果发现,在控制了个人特征之后,与Yermack(2004)、Srinivasan(2005)以及Fich and Shivdasani(2007)的研究结果一致,薪酬对独立董事的行为并没有显著的影响,表明独立董事在进行行为决策的时候,还会受到声誉、社会关系等因素的制约。     

董事薪酬、CEO薪酬与公司未来业绩:监督还是合谋?

本文从薪酬视角,对董事与CEO之间的关联关系进行了研究。研究发现:"董事监督薪酬"与CEO薪酬正相关,同时对公司未来业绩有显著的正向影响,"董事超额薪酬"也与CEO薪酬正相关,但对公司未来业绩有显著的负向影响,中介效应检验显示"董事监督薪酬"和"董事超额薪酬"对公司未来业绩的影响分别有15.37%和40.54%是通过CEO薪酬安排这一途径间接实现的,表明目前董事与CEO之间兼具监督和合谋两种效应,但合谋效应要强于监督效应。此外,还发现董事薪酬和CEO薪酬的影响因素高度趋同,股权集中度的提高可以替代董事监管。总体而言,研究结果表明进一步厘清董事和CEO的职能差异,重视董事监督职能相匹配的薪酬设计是提高公司业绩的重要途径。     

Tracing back to the source: Understanding the corporate governance of boards of directors in Chinese SOEs

Based on the relevant theories of corporate governance and the special institutional background of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs), this paper systematically reviews the literature on the independence and governance effect of SOE boards. We find that the governance effect of SOE boards is driven by the dual characteristics of SOEs: state involvement in ownership and market incentives. With the state involved in ownership, SOEs adhere to the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which results in an enhanced governance effect. Under market incentives, SOEs tend to have an optimal board structure that helps mitigate both the shareholder–management agency problem (Type I agency problem) and the controlling shareholder–minority shareholder agency problem (Type II agency problem). In terms of the governance effect of boards, directors appointed by non-controlling shareholders are effective in alleviating Type I and Type II agency problems, and this highlights the importance of mixed-ownership reforms in SOEs. Independent directors, especially those with a professional background, also play a role in improving corporate governance. However, independent directors in SOEs have relatively weak incentives to monitor, which limits their governance effect. This paper shows positive implications for promoting mixed-ownership reforms and improving board governance in SOEs.     

Executive compensation and corporate governance in China

We investigate executive compensation and corporate governance in China's publicly traded firms. We also compare executive pay in China to the USA. Consistent with agency theory, we find that executive compensation is positively correlated to firm performance. The study shows that executive pay and CEO incentives are lower in State controlled firms and firms with concentrated ownership structures. Boardroom governance is important. We find that firms with more independent directors on the board have a higher pay-for-performance link. Non-State (private) controlled firms and firms with more independent directors on the board are more likely to replace the CEO for poor performance. Finally, we document that US executive pay (salary and bonus) is about seventeen times higher than in China. Significant differences in US-China pay persist even after controlling for economic and governance factors.     

Covering or monitoring? Independent director connectedness and corporate fraud in China

This paper examines how independent directors’ social capital, as measured by their social network, affects corporate fraud. We find that firms with well-connected independent directors are less likely to commit fraud, supporting our monitoring effect hypothesis. This result is robust to a battery of tests. Further analyses show that the effect is stronger for firms with a relatively poor legal environment, for firms whose independent directors face strong reputation incentives and when independent directors are audit committee members. Moreover, we explore a potential economic mechanism of the effect and observe that well-connected independent directors are associated with less absenteeism and more dissension. Overall, our findings suggest that independent directors’ social capital plays an important role in corporate governance.     

Independent directors’ board networks and controlling shareholders’ tunneling behavior

As one of the channels by which board directors build important relationships, board networks can affect the governance role of independent directors. Defining director board networks as their connections based on direct ties they establish when serving on at least one common board, this paper explores the role of the network centrality of independent directors in restraining tunneling behavior by controlling shareholders in the Chinese capital market. Our empirical evidence shows that tunneling behavior by controlling shareholders is negatively related to the network centrality of independent directors and that this relationship is stronger when non-operating fund occupation is used as the measure of tunneling. The results of our study show that board networks can help independent directors to restrain tunneling behavior by large shareholders, which plays a positive role in corporate governance.     

Executive compensation in less regulated markets: the impact of debt monitoring

This paper shows that in the lightly regulated Alternative Investment Market (AIM) voluntary corporate board structures might not reduce agency costs between shareholder and executive directors. In this less regulated market, we find that the extent of debt affects executive pay. In addition, the theoretical determinants of executive pay affect CEO and other executives’ pay and incentives differently in this market. We find no evidence that debt levels affect CEO pay in a matched sample of Main Market firms. Our results suggest that debtholders could be better monitors of executive directors’ actions, in comparison to voluntary governance committees in less regulated markets.     

Is Busy Really Busy? Board Governance Revisited

We investigate the relationship between firm governance and the board's position in the social network of directors. Using a sample of 133 German firms over the four‐year period from 2003 to 2006, we find that firms with intensely connected supervisory boards are (1) associated with lower firm performance, and (2) pay their executives significantly more. We interpret these results as evidence of poor monitoring in firms with directors who are more embedded in the social network. In both cases, simple measures for busy directors that were used by other studies in the past fail to show any significant pattern. The findings suggest that the quality and structural position of additional board seats may play a bigger role than simply the number of board appointments.     

The determinants of director remuneration,executive tenure and individual executive disclosure in North African IPO firms

This paper examines the impact of board governance mechanisms, namely board size, independence ratio, opacity of earnings disclosure, and ratio of genuinely independent nonexecutive directors to total board size on director remuneration, executive tenure and likelihood of individual executive salary disclosure in a unique and comprehensive sample of 69 North African IPO firms. I find evidence of the enhanced governance role of true independent nonexecutives in family as opposed to non-family firms in improving disclosure of individual salaries and moderating lengths of executive tenure. However while their role is only significant in the context of family firms the evidence suggests that their presence is associated with higher levels of remuneration. The evidence also ascribes a greater role for business angel as opposed to more formal private equity financing which is more applicable within the highly social networked economy of the Maghreb region.     

董事会断裂带与企业薪酬差距

高管与普通员工之间的薪酬差距不仅影响着企业的激励效率与企业价值,还关系到社会的公平与稳定。断裂带是Lau and Murnighan(1998)提出的假想的分割线概念,即可以将团队划分为多个小团体。以2005—2019年中国A股上市公司为样本,本文从董事会断裂带这一视角探索董事会中小团体的差异性对于薪酬差距的影响和后果。本文研究发现:(1)董事会断裂带的存在加剧了企业高管与普通员工之间的薪酬差距;(2)分解董事会断裂带的类型后,由深层特征形成的断裂带对于薪酬差距的影响高于由表层特征形成的断裂带;(3)区分行业竞争的程度后,公司所在行业的激烈竞争有助于缓解董事会断裂带造成的薪酬差距扩大;(4)从经济后果来看,董事会断裂带造成的薪酬差距对企业绩效具有显著的负向影响。本文的研究有助于深入理解企业薪酬差距形成的机制及其后果,同时对于完善我国董事会的监督机制也有一定的现实启发。     

Should Independent Directors Have Term Limits? The Role of Experience in Corporate Governance

We examine the role of independent directors with extended tenure in board‐level governance, monitoring decisions, and advising outcomes. These directors exhibit a higher level of commitment as they attend more board meetings and take more committee memberships. Firms with a higher proportion of these directors have lower chief executive officer (CEO) pay, higher CEO turnover‐performance sensitivity, and a smaller likelihood of intentionally misreporting earnings. These firms also restrict the expansion of resources under the CEO's control as they are less likely to make acquisitions, while the acquisitions they do make are of higher quality. Efforts to impose term limits on directors may, therefore, be misguided.