Supply Constraints and Directors’ Reputational Incentives

47 Pages Posted: 26 Jun 2017 Last revised: 2 Jul 2021

See all articles by Chris Armstrong

Chris Armstrong

Stanford Graduate School of Business

John D. Kepler

Stanford Graduate School of Business

Shawn Shi

University of Washington - Michael G. Foster School of Business

David Tsui

University of Southern California - Marshall School of Business

Date Written: July 1, 2021

Abstract

We study the labor market consequences that result from directors’ limited capacity to sit on boards and their resulting incentives stemming from career concerns and future prospects. We find that directors who leave one board are more likely to subsequently join a new board, regardless of the previous firm’s performance. This findings is symptomatic of excess demand for directors’ services and therefore binding constraints on their ability to sit on additional boards. Consistent with many directors facing binding supply constraints, using three arguably exogenous changes in the tightness of directors’ supply constraints, we find that directors with more binding constraints are more likely to substitute board seats as these constraints relax. Collectively, our evidence suggests that many directors face limitations in their ability to join additional boards, potentially diminishing their labor market-based incentives.

Keywords: Board of directors; director incentives; career concerns; director labor market; principal-agent; corporate governance

JEL Classification: G34; J22

Suggested Citation

Armstrong, Chris S. and Kepler, John and Shi, Shawn and Tsui, David, Supply Constraints and Directors’ Reputational Incentives (July 1, 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2991624 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2991624

Chris S. Armstrong (Contact Author)

Stanford Graduate School of Business ( email )

655 Knight Way
E316
Stanford, CA 94305-5015
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/faculty/christopher-s-armstrong

John Kepler

Stanford Graduate School of Business ( email )

655 Knight Way
Stanford, CA 94305-5015
United States

Shawn Shi

University of Washington - Michael G. Foster School of Business ( email )

Box 353200
Seattle, WA 98195-3200
United States

David Tsui

University of Southern California - Marshall School of Business ( email )

3660 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles, CA 90089
United States

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