What makes organizations so similar? We contend that the engine of rationalization and bureaucratization has moved from the competitive marketplace to the state and the professions. Once a set of organizations emerges as a field, a paradox arises: rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to change them. We describe three isomorphic processes-coercive, mimetic, and normative—leading to this outcome. We then specify hypotheses about the impact of resource centralization and dependency, goal ambiguity and technical uncertainty, and professionalization and structuration on isomorphic change. Finally, we suggest implications for theories of organizations and social change.

The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields (Chinese Translation)

https://cws.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/cws/article/download/14795/13847

Men and Women of the Corporation

Value Maximization, Stakeholder Theory, and the Corporate Objective Function

본 연구는 현존하는 여덟 개의 〈뿔피리를 부는 제빵사〉 작품이 산발적으로 우연히 등장한 것이 아닌 서로 유기적인 영향관계를 주고 받으며 생산된 하나의 도상으로 살펴보았다. “뿔피리를 부는 제빵사” 그림에 대한 현재까지의 연구는 대부분 그림에 나타나 있는 다양한 빵들을 성만찬을 의미하는 종교적 상징으로 해석하고 있다. 이에 반해 본 연구는 “뿔피리를 부는 제빵사” 도상이 유독 17세기 중후반 네덜란드에서 생산된 사실에 주목하고, 그 이유를 동시대 네덜란드인들의 일상에 직접적인 영향을 주었던 빵의 생산 및 공급 그리고 유통과정에서 찾고자 한다. 여기에는 빵이 당대 네덜란드인들의 식생활 뿐 아니라 그들의 경제생활 더나아가 국가경제 전체에 어떤 중요한 역할을 했는지에 대한 연구가 선행되어야 한다. 주로 풍속화의 전통으로 해석되었던 “뿔피리를 부는 제빵사” 그림은 본 연구에서 풍속화와 초상화 두 장르가 혼합한 도상으로 다루어졌으며, 이제까지의 연구에서 미흡했던 초상화로서의 가능성이 적극적으로 제기되었다. 제빵사의 초상화 또는 화가의 자화상으로 생산된 〈뿔피리를 부는 제빵사〉의 시대적 배경에는 제빵사의 경제적 여유와 사회적 지위상승 그리고 제빵사를 영혼의 양식을 공급하는 고귀한 직업으로 승화시킨 칼비니즘의 영향이 있다. 제빵사들이 부를 축적할 수 있었던 배경에는 국가가 나서서 빵의 생산과 공급을 철저하게 관리해준 덕분이었다. 17세기 네덜란드의 제빵사들은 길드에 속해야만 빵을 팔 수 있었고 각 제빵사들의 빵 만드는 법은 외부인들에게 절대로 공개되지 않았다. 동시에 당시 네덜란드인들은 세금을 내지 않고는 빵을 먹기가 힘들었다. 이런 이유로 개인의 집에 오븐을 설치하는 것은 금지되었고, 빵은 꼭 관헌들에게 세금을 내는 합법적인 제빵사에게서만 살 수 있었다. 이렇게 17세기 네덜란드는 직업으로서 빵 굽는 사람을 보호하는 동시에 단속하기 위해 매우 엄격한 규정을 제정하였다. 17세기 네덜란드인들에게 빵은 그들의 식생활 뿐 아니라 그들의 다양한 직업과도 관련이 있었으며 빵의 생산과 유통과정에 개입한 국가의 권위와 통제를 상징하기도 한다. 빵의 생산과 유통에 붙는 세금은 국가의 경제를 지탱하고 발전시키는데 중요한 재원이었으며, 동시에 국민들을 엄격하게 관리함으로써 국가의 질서를 세우기 위한 효과적인 방편이었다. 빵가격은 변동이 심한 곡물가격과 빵의 크기에 따라서 엄격하게 결정되었다. 네덜란드정부는 평상시에 빵의 공식적인 무게와 가격을 고정시켰는데, 이는 다른 음식에서는 찾아볼 수 없는 유일한 관리방식이었다. 따라서 동시대 네덜란드인들에게 빵은 국가의 적극적인 개입과 관리체계를 통해서만 그들의 입에 넣을 수 있는 음식이었다. 이러한 맥락에서 볼 때, 본 연구에서 다룬 〈뿔피리를 부는 제빵사〉 그림에서 풍성하게 차려진 다양한 빵은 경제적인 풍요와 정치적인 안정을 의미한다. 여러 가지 다양한 음식 중에서도 빵이 이러한 의미를 가장 효과적으로 전달한다는 점에서 〈뿔피리를 부는 제빵사〉 그림에서 빵은 당시 네덜란드의 물질적 풍요뿐만 아니라 국가의 번영과 안녕을 의미한다고 볼 수 있다.

17세기 네덜란드 미술에 나타난 빵의 사회사

Pay Without Performance: The Unfulfilled Promise of Executive Compensation

Departing from previous studies, this paper investigates the impact of corporate board diversity on corporate performance and executive pay within the context of MENA countries. Our sample includes a balanced panel of 600 firm-year observations, consisting of 100 individual firms drawn from 5 Middle Eastern countries (Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia and United Arab of Emirates) over the 2009–2014 period. The findings are three-fold. First, board diversity, as measured by director gender and nationality, has a positive effect on corporate financial performance. Second, the relationship between board diversity and corporate performance is stronger in better-governed firms than their poorly-governed counterparts. Finally, board diversity, as measured by director gender, ethnicity and nationality, enhances the pay-for-performance sensitivity, but not the actual executive pay. Our results suggest that decisions about board diversity are not merely influenced by moral values; they arise because of the cost-benefit considerations of what diversity can bring to the firm. The findings are robust to controlling for different alternatives of board diversity measures, corporate governance proxies, corporate outcomes and types of endogeneities.

/pdf/board-diversity-corporate-governance-corporate-performance-1r09ckf2dp.pdf

Board diversity, corporate governance, corporate performance, and executive pay

/pdf/antecedents-of-audit-quality-in-mena-countries-the-effect-of-j9potk2xb1.pdf

Antecedents of audit quality in MENA countries: The effect of firm- and country-level governance quality

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the level of voluntary compliance with, and disclosure of, corporate governance (CG) best practices, and the extent to which board characteristics and shareholding structures can explain discernible differences in the level of voluntary CG disclosure in a number of emerging Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) economies.,The paper uses a number of multivariate regression methods, namely, ordinary least squares, weighted, non-linear, lagged-effects, two-stage least squares and fixed-effects regression techniques to analyse data collected for a sample of listed corporations in emerging MENA economies from 2009 to 2014.,First, in general, MENA listed firms have a relatively lower level of voluntary compliance with, and disclosure of, CG practices compared to listed firms in developed countries. Second, the evidence suggests that corporate board characteristics, including board diversity, have a positive association with the level of voluntary CG disclosure. In contrast, the findings indicate that unitary board leadership structure, director shareholdings and government shareholdings negatively impact on the level of voluntary CG disclosure. The study does not, however, find any evidence to suggest that family shareholdings have any significant relationship with the level of voluntary CG disclosure. The findings are generally robust to alternative measures and potential endogeneity problems.,This is one of the first empirical efforts at investigating the association between CG mechanisms and voluntary disclosure in emerging MENA economies that observably relies on a multi-theoretical framework within a longitudinal cross-country research setting.

/pdf/corporate-boards-shareholding-structures-and-voluntary-1u6s3kv7p0.pdf

Corporate boards, shareholding structures and voluntary disclosure in emerging MENA economies

This paper aims to investigate the level of compliance with, and disclosure of, corporate governance best practice recommendations and the firm- and country-level factors that can explain discernible differences in the level of compliance with, and disclosure of, corporate governance best practice recommendations in a number of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries,The authors use the widely used content analysis technique to examine the level of compliance with, and disclosure of, corporate governance best practice recommendations in a sample of listed corporations in MENA countries In addition, the authors use the ordinary least square multiple regression analysis technique to examine the firm- and country-level antecedents of the level of compliance with, and disclosure of, corporate governance best practice recommendations The findings are generally robust to different types of firm- and country-level factors, alternative measures and potential endogeneity problems,The findings of this study are two-fold First, the level of voluntary compliance with, and disclosure of, corporate governance best practice recommendations among MENA listed corporations is low and differs substantially across firms Second, the evidence suggests that firm- and country-level factors, including religiosity, national governance quality and macroeconomic factors, have a positive and significant impact on voluntary compliance with, and disclosure of, corporate governance best practice recommendations,To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to examine both the potential firm- and country-level factors affecting voluntary compliance with, and disclosure of, corporate governance best practice recommendations among MENA listed corporations from a neo-institutional theoretical perspective The results of our study provide regulators and policymakers with the impetus to encourage greater efforts towards pursuing reforms that seek to improve national governance quality, economic environment and positive religious practices

/pdf/firm-and-country-level-antecedents-of-corporate-governance-5caaoop6qp.pdf

Firm- and country-level antecedents of corporate governance compliance and disclosure in MENA countries

The current thesis consists of three essays analysing recent corporate governance (CG) reforms in Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries. The three essays place emphasis on three closely related CG topics that quantitatively seek to investigate the extent to which MENA CG reforms have been effective in enhancing three main sets of corporate outcomes.


The first essay investigates the level and determinants of voluntary CG compliance and disclosure in MENA countries during the period from 2009 to 2014. Specifically, this essay aims to empirically examine two main research questions: first, what is the level of voluntary compliance with, and disclosure of, CG provisions among listed firms in MENA countries?; and second, what factors can explain the variance in the level of voluntary compliance with, and disclosure of, CG provisions among listed firms in MENA countries? Relying on insights from neo-institutional theory, the findings of this study reveal that in general MENA listed firms have a relatively lower level of voluntary compliance with, and disclosure of, CG practices compared to developed countries. However, the level of CG disclosure improved over period 2009 to 2014, indicating that MENA countries have responded positively to their CG codes of best practice and recommendations. The findings also suggest that firm-level factors (i.e., Islamic values, board characteristics and ownership structure mechanisms) and country-level factors (i.e., religion and the quality of national governance) have a significant impact on firm-level voluntary CG compliance and disclosure. Specifically, the findings suggest that Islamic values disclosure, board diversity on the basis of gender and ethnicity, board independence and separation of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO)/chairperson roles have a positive association with the level of CG compliance and disclosure, while board size and director ownership impact negatively on the level of CG compliance and disclosure. The findings also suggest insignificant relationship between government ownership and block ownership with the level of CG compliance and disclosure. With regard to country-level factors, the results indicate that corporations listed in countries complying with Islamic economic principles and having high-quality national governance are more likely to voluntarily comply and disclose more CG practices than those that do not.


The second essay investigates the influence of board diversity (based on gender, ethnic minorities and nationality) on corporate outcomes. Thus, this essay seeks to empirically examine the extent to which board diversity influences firm market value, accounting returns, executives pay (EP) and the pay-for-performance sensitivity (PPS). The findings attempt to
expand current understanding of the role that board diversity can play in enhancing market value, accounting returns, EP and the PPS among MENA countries’ listed firms. Specifically, the MENA region has distinctive social norms, legal framework and structure of the economy, which suggest that the effect of board diversity on corporate outcomes may be different from those observed in developed countries. Informed by critical insights from agency, resource dependence, cognitive development, social identity and stakeholder theories, the empirical evidence reveals that boards of directors of MENA listed firms are dominated by national Arab male directors. The empirical evidence also shows that board diversity is a significant determinant of corporate outcomes in MENA listed firms. Specifically, firms with boards more diversified by gender, ethnic minorities and nationality are more likely to have higher accounting returns and market value. Additionally, a high percentage of female directors on the board improves firm market value and accounting returns, while foreign directors significantly and positively influence accounting returns. Further, the empirical results show that a firm’s CG quality has no moderating effect on the relationship between board diversity and firm market value. However, a high percentage of ethnic and foreign directors positively and significantly impacts the accounting returns in firms with weak CG. With regard to the impact of board diversity on EP, the findings reveal that different measures of board diversity have no significant impact on EP, whereas the inclusion of female and minority ethnic directors on corporate boards appears to enhance the PPS.


The third and final essay examines the extent to which CG practices can explain auditor choice and observable changes in audit fees among listed firms in MENA countries. The key objective of this essay is to investigate how effective the CG practices, including CG Index, board characteristics and ownership structure mechanisms, are in influencing the auditor choice and fees. The results of this study have the potential to deepen current understanding of the ability of different CG practices to impact auditor choice and fees among firms listed in MENA countries. Specifically, the audit profession and its quality in the MENA region are relatively poorly established compared to developed countries. This suggests that the impact of CG measures on auditor choice and fees decisions may be different from that observed in developed countries. Employing insights from agency theory, the study finds that CG Index, board diversity based on gender and ethnicity, board independence, separation of the CEO/chairperson roles and concentrated ownership impact significantly and positively on firm choice of Big 4 auditors. Board size impacts positively, but insignificantly, on Big 4 auditor choice decision, whereas government ownership and director ownership are insignificant and negatively related to Big 4 auditor choice decision. The third essay also shows that CG Index, board diversity based on gender and ethnicity and government ownership are significantly and negatively related to audit fees, whereas board size, board independence and director ownership have a significant, but positive effect on audit fees. Non-dual board leadership structure, and concentrated ownership have no significant impact on audit fees.


The documented empirical results of the three essays are fairly robust across a raft of econometric models and estimations that take into account potential endogeneity problems and alternative variables.


To summarise, empirical evidence for the extent of CG practices’ influence on these three sets of corporate outcomes among MENA countries’ listed firms is relatively rare. Accordingly, this study aims to contribute to the literature by providing new insights with specific focus on recent CG reforms that have been pursued in MENA countries. Particularly, this thesis contributes to the limited, but steadily growing body of literature on the effectiveness of CG mechanisms in influencing a number of crucial firm outcome, including voluntary CG compliance and disclosure, firm performance, EP, the PPS, and auditor choice and fees, among listed firms in MENA countries.

Ahmed A. Sarhan

Papers

Board diversity, corporate governance, corporate performance, and executive pay

Antecedents of audit quality in MENA countries: The effect of firm- and country-level governance quality

Corporate boards, shareholding structures and voluntary disclosure in emerging MENA economies

Firm- and country-level antecedents of corporate governance compliance and disclosure in MENA countries

Empirical essays on corporate governance and corporate outcomes in MENA countries