Professor Director: Determinants of Appointments and Impacts on Firm Performance

• Main Authors: Chia-Hsuan Liao, 廖家軒
• Other Authors: 陳業寧
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/56977948765061367048

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 財務金融學研究所 === 102 === Appointing professors as board members has become more popular among listed firms in Taiwan. In the period from 2006 to 2011, the percentage of listed firms with at least one professor in the board increases from 24.48% to 32.91%, and the average percentage of professor directorships increases from 3.48% to 5.20%. This thesis studies the firm characteristics that affect the appointments of professors as board members. It also investigates whether appointing professors as board members can improve the firms’ financial performance. This thesis finds that the firms with and without professors in the board are different in various aspects. The firms with at least one professor in the board have higher ROA, Tobin’s q, Z-score, total assets, stock return volatility, R&;D expense ratio, larger board size, higher foreign institutional ownership, and more outside directors. In addition, they are younger, less likely to be family firms, and more likely to have CEO duality. This thesis also shows that having professors as board members does not improve or reduce firm performance after the endogeneity issues are controlled.