We investigate the influence of non-executive outside directors on firms' innovative performance for a sample of 1,393 listed firms in the EU - 15 member states plus Norway and Switzerland in the period 2005 to 2010. Our results show that the fraction of non-executive outside directors on the...

We find evidence that chief executive officers' (CEOs') hobby of flying airplanes is associated with significantly better innovation outcomes, measured by patents and citations, greater innovation effectiveness, and more diverse and original patents. We rule out alternative explanations, leading...

Using panel data on U.S. public firms, we document a positive effect of board independence on corporate innovation. This effect is concentrated in firms that are larger in size, in the non-technical industries, facing less product market competition, and using more debt, where managers are more...

This study examines whether and how female directors enhance innovation performance. Based on a sample of U.S. firms, this study shows that firms with more female directors on boards present a more pronounced positive association between R&D and future firm performance (measured by earnings and...

We explore the relation between antitakeover provisions (i.e. managerial entrenchment) and firm performance in innovation. Empirical results indicate that an increase in antitakeover provisions is negatively related to number of patents and number of citations to patents. Thus managers who are...

This article examines recent literature on corporate boards and the interplay between director gender and CEO turnover and how it affects firm performance after CEO turnover. The primary focus is board gender diversity and CEO job embeddedness in entrepreneurial firms. This article discusses...

We examine the effect of directors with extended tenure on corporate innovation. Using a sample of U.S. firms from 2001-2006, we find that firms with a higher portion of directors with extended tenure are associated with significantly lower innovation productivity and quality, as manifested in a...

This paper addresses a question faced by every firm in the economy, namely is it optimal for a firm's founder to lead the company as CEO? To identify the treatment effect of founder CEOs on corporate policy and firm value, I exploit a natural experiment involving exogenous...

We examine whether directors' and officers' (D&O) liability insurance affects corporate innovation. We find a positive association between D&O insurance and innovation. The result is robust to a series of robustness checks, including Heckman model, longer test windows of corporate innovation and...

One-in-five U.S. high-technology firms are led by CEOs with hands-on innovation experience as inventors. Firms led by “Inventor CEOs” are associated with higher quality innovation, especially when the CEO is a high-impact inventor. During an Inventor CEO's tenure, firms file a greater number...