ABSTRACT

This study examines the relationship between family power and corporate investment efficiency in Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) countries. Family power in firms is manifested in how much decision-making power is concentrated in the hands of family members who are active either on the board of directors, or as executives of a firm. Using a unique measure of “family power,” we contribute to a growing interest in the role of family influence in the GCC emerging markets, where firms and business practices are typically controlled by families. We find that increased family power reduces firms’ level of under- and over-investment. We assert that this relation arises because firms are able to exhibit high levels of family power through socioemotional wealth preservation in reducing both management agency costs and earnings management.

摘要

本研究考察了海湾合作委员会 (GCC) 国家的家族权力与企业投资效率之间的关系。企业中的家族权力体现在有多少决策权集中在家族成员手中，家族成员要么活跃在董事会，要么担任企业高管。使用独特的“家族权力”衡量标准，我们促进了人们对家族影响力在 GCC 新兴市场中的作用日益浓厚的兴趣，在这些市场中，公司和商业实践通常由家族控制。我们发现，家族权力的增加降低了公司投资不足和过度投资的水平。我们断言，之所以出现这种关系，是因为公司能够通过社会情感财富保全在降低管理机构成本和盈余管理方面表现出高水平的家族权力。