The double effects of female executives' participation on corporate sustainable competitive advantage through unethical environmental behavior and proactive environmental strategy

Based on the upper echelons theory, ecofeminist theory, and natural resource‐based theory (NRBV), this study has constructed a relational model between female executives' participation, unethical environmental behavior, proactive environmental strategy, and corporate sustainable competitive advantage. The samples include a total of 496 female executives from listed 524 companies in the manufacturing sector in China, and multiple regression methods are used for the analysis. The study showed that female executives' participation had double positive effects on corporate sustainable competitive advantage, which included both the inhibiting effect on unethical environmental behavior and the stimulating effect on proactive environmental strategies. The study also explored the boundary conditions of “conservative” and “proactive” behaviors from the internal and external perspectives of enterprises. But it was shown that the effect would not be further improved when both moderation effects of environmental stakeholder pressure and environmental leadership were higher at the same time. As enterprises' behaviors should match with their capability range, radical behaviors might run counter to their desires.     

Sexual harassment as unethical behavior: the role of moral intensity

This article examines sexual harassment phenomena from an ethical perspective. Specifically, it argues that sexual harassment may occur less frequently if actors are encouraged to regard sexually harassing behavior as involving a moral component. Jones' work on moral intensity is used to describe reasons why, given the nature of sexual harassment phenomena, actors often may not recognize the moral aspects of harassing behavior. Finally, the implications of this perspective for the prevention of sexual harassment are discussed.     

The asymmetric behavior of household consumption under the business cycle

In this study, we examine whether and to what extent the pattern of household consumption is asymmetrically sensitive to economic changes. We use a threshold model with error correction to characterize household consumption under the business cycle. Using data from the 1979–2014 Survey of Family Income and Expenditure in Taiwan, we find that household consumption has pro-cyclical characteristics during the business cycle. More importantly, household consumption responds asymmetrically to economic fluctuations such that changes in consumption tend to be larger during expansions than during downturns. Furthermore, the nature of this asymmetry differs across household income quantiles.     

Sarbanes-Oxley wealth effects: focus on technology firms

We evaluate the shareholder wealth effects surrounding the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). While other studies have also measured wealth effects, none has separately examined technology firms. We discuss the unique characteristics of technology firms and assess whether technology firms are differentially affected. Our results show the portfolio of 218 technology firms experienced significantly more favorable wealth effects than the portfolio of 940 non-technology firms in response to events indicating stringent reform legislation. The cross-sectional analyses suggest that board independence, growth expectations, and R&D expenditures are influential factors in the differential stock price response of technology firms. Across our full sample of 1,158 firms, we find that wealth effects are less favorable for firms that likely will incur high compliance costs and more favorable for firms that are expected to benefit from improved governance and improved transparency.     

Contests and unethical behavior in organizations: a review and synthesis of the empirical literature

Management Review Quarterly - Contests are widely used in business contexts because they are believed to increase the effort and performance levels of employees. One negative aspect of contests is...     

House prices, wealth effects, and the Singapore macroeconomy

This paper examines the effect housing wealth has upon aggregate consumption in Singapore. While past research has focused only on changes in private housing wealth, the residential market in Singapore is dominated by the public housing sector. The massive public housing segment can generate potentially different wealth effects from standard private housing markets given the former’s unique institutional features. In particular, public housing owners who sell their units at market rates can repurchase a public flat at subsidized prices whereas private homeowners typically cannot. We estimate the link between consumption expenditure and both private and public housing wealth using a VARX approach for the Q1:1990–Q4:2002 period. We find that changes in private house prices have no significant effect on aggregate consumption. In contrast, public housing wealth effects are larger and more persistent.     

A study on the wealth effects of irish takeovers and mergers

This paper presents the findings of an empirical study on the share-price effects of takeovers and mergers on the Dublin Stock Exchange. The population under study consists of all acquisitions during the period 1965–83, and it is limited to those instances in which both partners were quoted and traded on the exchange. The Market Model has been adapted to take account of market inefficiencies. Any findings are evaluated in the light of other reported research.     

The measurement and structure of household wealth

This paper deals with methodological issues that arise in measuring household wealth. Two prominent American household surveys—the PSID and SCF—rely on different methodological approaches to the measurement of household wealth. In particular, SCF oversamples high-income households and has a far more extensive set of questions. In the top one percent of the wealth distribution, better measures of wealth are related to over-sampling of very wealthy households and the number of questions that are asked. However, one can characterize total household wealth holdings for the overwhelming majority of households with a relatively moderate number of questions. When successive waves of wealth modules are used to compute savings, the verdict on quality is more cautious, in part due to the inherently larger role measurement error plays in any first difference formulation.     

Estimating the sensitivity of state tax revenue to cyclical and wealth effects

In this study, we estimate the elasticities of alternative sources of state tax revenue relative to the economy, as measured by GSP, and to wealth, as measured by the S&P500. Next, efficient tax frontiers are estimated for each state by minimizing the standard deviation, given the current average growth rate of revenues. It is shown how states could attain the same expected growth rate of tax revenues with less volatility by modifying the composition of their existing tax structures. In most cases, corporate income taxes are found to reduce efficiency due to their high volatility without a correspondingly high growth rate.     

The impact of reshoring decisions on shareholder wealth

Interest in reshoring, defined as the return of manufacturing and service operations from previously offshored locations to the U.S., has gained momentum recently. Yet, there is no academic evidence on the shareholder value implications of reshoring decisions. This paper analyzes the shareholder wealth effects of 37 reshoring decisions announced by U.S. firms during 2006–2015. Our results indicate that reshoring announcements result in positive abnormal stock returns. Mean (median) abnormal stock returns on reshoring announcements are 0.45% (0.29%), corresponding with a mean (median) market value change of $322.57 million ($31.60 million). Our findings imply that the benefits associated with the reshoring tend to outweigh the costs. This finding is relevant for firms faced with the decision of whether to move business activities from offshore to domestic locations. It is also of interest to policy makers who may seek to further stimulate the reshoring phenomenon.     

The business of elections

Two marketing reserach techniques, Conjoint Analysis and Quality Function Deployment (QFD), are imported to the political world and presented as superior substitutes to the conservative popularity contest surveys. Both techniques go deeper than "horse-race" popularity contests to analyze the roots of political success. Political Conjoint Analysis (PCA) and Political QFD (PQFD) identify and quantify consistent theoretical and operational features which statistically determine electoral victors. The successful application of such marketing techniques in the political world will hopefully eventually lead to Total Quality Politics (TQP) and intensify competition over voter satisfaction, rather than voter manipulation. Possible beneficial results of such techniques are a refinement of candidates' qualities in light of public demands and constant change in candidates' reservoirs due to the inability of existing pools to match voter preferences.     

The effects of diversity on business performance: Report of the diversity research network

This article summarizes the results and conclusions reached in studies of the relationships between race and gender diversity and business performance carried out in four large firms by a research consortium known as the Diversity Research Network. These researchers were asked by the BOLD Initiative to conduct this research to test arguments regarding the “business case” for diversity. Few positive or negative direct effects of diversity on performance were observed. Instead a number of different aspects of the organizational context and some group processes moderated diversity‐performance relationships. This suggests a more nuanced view of the “business case” for diversity may be appropriate. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Learning unethical practices from a co-worker: The peer effect of Jose Canseco

This paper examines the issue of whether workers learn productive skills from their co-workers, even if those skills are unethical. Specifically, we estimate whether Jose Canseco, a star baseball player in the late 1980's and 1990's, affected the performance of his teammates by introducing them to steroids. Using panel data, we show that a player's performance increases significantly after they played with Jose Canseco. After checking 30 comparable players from the same era, we find that no other baseball player produced a similar effect. Furthermore, the positive effect of Canseco disappears after 2003, the year that drug testing was implemented. These results suggest that workers not only learn productive skills from their co-workers, but sometimes those skills may derive from unethical practices. These findings may be relevant to many workplaces where competitive pressures create incentives to adopt unethical means to boost productivity and profits. Our analysis leads to several potential policy implications designed to reduce the spread of unethical behavior among workers.     

New evidence on shareholder wealth effects in bank mergers during 1980-2000

This paper employs two unique bank event study methodologies to calculate abnormal returns for bidder, target and combined firms. The first methodology is a modified market model that controls for shocks common to the banking industry. The second is an EGARCH (1, 1) model that adjusts for the violated regression assumptions of the traditional market model event study. The results of both methodologies reveal that target shareholders enjoy significantly positive abnormal returns, whereas the bidder shareholders experience significantly negative abnormal returns. Overall, announcements of bank mergers generate positive wealth effects for the combined shareholders. However, the evidence presented in this paper underscores the importance of the choice of models describing stock returns in examining the impact of bank mergers.     

The more,the merrier: Performance effects of cash over the business cycle

This paper adds to the recent interest in the link between cash and firm performance, by studying how this relationship varies across boom- and bust cycles. We use data of Norwegian firms from a broad range of sectors in the period 2005–2015, and both replicate and extend previous findings on the relationship between cash and performance over the business cycle. We find that i) cash has a positive, but weakly diminishing effect on operational firm performance (ROA) throughout the entire sample period, and ii) that the curvilinear relationship between cash and firm performance is the most pronounced in the pre-recession years, while it is virtually linearly positive in recessions and post-recession periods. We conclude that cash indeed has an impact on firms’ operational performance, and especially so in recessionary times.     

The effect of non-convertible preferred stock retirement on shareholder wealth

In this paper the authors examine the common stock price behavior of firms that call their non-convertible preferred stock. The findings for the entire sample of preferred stock calls are consistent with the Modigliani and Miller (MM) leverage hypothesis that preferred stock financing adds no value to the firm. However, for those firms whose preferred stock was completely eliminated from the capital structure, a significant, positive announcement effect is observed. This finding is consistent with an information signaling effect related to the earnings prospects and tax status of the calling firms and also is suggestive of a burdensome covenant effect. No evidence is found to support the free cash flow theory of common stock price reactions to preferred stock calls.     

Financial characteristics of acquiring firms and their relation to the wealth effects of acquisition announcements

This paper examines the sources of value to acquiring firms to expand the understanding of mergers and acquisitions. The firmspecific rationale that motivate firms to acquire other firms are examined, along with how these rationale impact the shareholder wealth of acquiring firms when the acquisitions are announced. A logit regression model is utilized to compare financial characteristics of acquiring firms to those of non-acquiring firms. The relation of these characteristics to the shareholder wealth effects experienced by acquiring firms when they announce acquisitions is also examined. The results support hypotheses that firm size and cash-flow payout impact the decision to acquire. Capital structure, management performance, and cash-flow payout are related to the wealth effects of acquisition announcements. Better fitting models result when industry effects are controlled by measuring firm characteristics as relative deviations from industry values.     

The differential impact on stockholder wealth of various antitakeover provisions

This paper examines the relationship between the passage of six types of corporate antitakeover provisions (supermajority, classified boards, fair-price, reduction in cumulative voting, anti-greenmail and poison pills) and stockholder wealth. Our event study from a sample of 381 firms that adopted 486 antitakeover provisions in the 1984 to 1988 period indicates a strongly negative effect on stockholder wealth, supporting the management entrenchment view of the antitakeover provisions. Moreover, the empirical results of this paper indicate that the market reacts equally negatively to both non-operating provisions that require stockholder approval and to operating provisions that do not require stockholder approval. However, separate analyses of the antitakeover provisions provide some support for the argument that stockholders discriminate between individual provisions.