Outside Directorships, Firm Life Cycle, Corporate Financial Decisions and Firm Performance

We investigate whether directors with multiple outside board directorships are related to corporate financial strategy across firm life cycle stages. Using a large sample of firms from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, we find that when the number of directors with multiple board seats i...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Alqahtani, Jubran, Duong, Lien, Taylor, Grantley, Eulaiwi, Baban
Other Authors: Batten, Jonathan
Format: Journal Article
Published: Elsevier 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/85094
Description
Summary:We investigate whether directors with multiple outside board directorships are related to corporate financial strategy across firm life cycle stages. Using a large sample of firms from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, we find that when the number of directors with multiple board seats increases, firms' level of cash holdings rises, capital expenditure declines, selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses increase, and firm performance decreases. We further demonstrate how the relationship varies across different stages of their life cycle. Our findings have significant implications for policy makers, regulators and stockholders in GCC countries and in other emerging markets.