Proxy Advisory Firms and Corporate Shareholder Engagement

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Dey, Aiyesha; Starkweather, Austin; White, Joshua T.
• 署名单位: Harvard University; University of Tennessee System; University of Tennessee Knoxville; Vanderbilt University
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF FINANCIAL STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0893-9454
• DOI: 10.1093/rfs/hhae045
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 3877
• 关键词: MANIPULATION; OWNERSHIP; DIRECTORS; boards; pay

摘要

We study how Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) affect firms' engagement with shareholders. Our analyses exploit a quasi-natural experiment using say-on-pay voting outcomes near a threshold that triggers ISS to review engagement activities. Firms receiving ISS treatment exhibit swift and substantive increases in extensive and intensive margins of engagement, especially when their boards have higher agency conflicts and directors are more likely to lose voting support from ISS. Increases in engagement persist over time, and shareholders appear to value the increased engagement. Collectively, we shed light on an unexplored channel through which ISS positively influences firms' governance and information environments.