Executive Overconfidence and Securities Class Actions
Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis (JFQA), Forthcoming
27th Australasian Finance and Banking Conference 2014 Paper
UNSW Business School Research Paper No. 2015 BFIN 01
Stevens Institute of Technology School of Business Research Paper
57 Pages Posted: 13 May 2014 Last revised: 23 Mar 2018
Date Written: December 31, 2016
Abstract
Overconfident CEOs tend to have over-positive views of their own skills and of future corporate performance. Thus, we hypothesize that overconfident executives are more likely to engage in reckless or intentional actions that give rise to SCAs. We find that executive-overconfidence increases SCA-likelihood, which is ameliorated by improved governance (following SOX) and reductions in risk-taking incentives (following SFAS-123R). Post-SCA, consistent with being regarded as more blame-worthy, there is greater likelihood of overconfident-CEO turnover. Overconfident CEOs learn from prior SCAs, with SCAs attenuating future litigation risk. Companies, similarly, are less likely to hire an overconfident CEO after a SCA.
Keywords: Overconfidence, Securities Class Actions, Governance
JEL Classification: G23, G32, G34
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation