Retail shareholder participation in the proxy process: Monitoring, engagement, and voting

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Brav, Alon; Cain, Matthew; Zytnick, Jonathon
• 署名单位: Duke University; University of California System; University of California Berkeley
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-405X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2021.07.013
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 492-522
• 关键词: Retail voting; Shareholder proposal; Proxy advisory firm; corporate governance

摘要

We study retail shareholder voting using a nearly comprehensive sample of U.S. ownership and voting records. Analyzing turnout within a rational-choice framework, we find participation increases with ownership and expected benefits from winning and decreases with higher costs of participation. Even shareholders with a negligible likelihood of affecting the outcome have non zero turnout, consistent with consumption benefits from voting. Conditional on participation, retail shareholders punish the management of poorly performing firms. Overall, our evidence provides support for the idea that retail shareholders utilize their voting power to monitor firms and communicate with incumbent boards and management.(c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.