Professors on the Board: Do They Contribute to Society Outside the Classroom?

According to our data, 38.5 % of S&P 1500 firms have at least one professor on their boards. Given the lack of research examining the roles and effects of academic faculty as members of boards of directors (professor–directors) on corporate outcomes, this study investigates whether firms with pr...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Cho, Charles H. (Author) ; Jung, Jay Heon (Author) ; Kwak, Byungjin (Author) ; Lee, Jaywon (Author) ; Yoo, Choong-Yuel (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Springer Science + Business Media B. V 2017
In: Journal of business ethics
Year: 2017, Volume: 141, Issue: 2, Pages: 393-409
Further subjects:B Professor
B Corporate social responsibility
B Corporate governance
B Social performance ratings
B Academic
B Board of directors
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Description
Summary:According to our data, 38.5 % of S&P 1500 firms have at least one professor on their boards. Given the lack of research examining the roles and effects of academic faculty as members of boards of directors (professor–directors) on corporate outcomes, this study investigates whether firms with professor–directors are more likely to exhibit higher corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance ratings. Results indicate that firms with professor–directors do exhibit higher CSR performance ratings than those without. However, the influence of professor–directors on firm CSR performance ratings depends on their academic background—the positive association between the presence of professor–directors and firm CSR performance ratings is significant only when their academic background is specialized (e.g., science, engineering, and medicine). Finally, this positive association weakens when professor–directors hold an administrative position at their universities.
ISSN:1573-0697
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of business ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s10551-015-2718-x