Governance and Accountability
The understanding of governance, its forms, and its impact has changed enormously over the last few decades. The need to adapt to growing international competition, to respond and adapt to challenges resulting from climate change have further added to the need to study the effectiveness of governance mechanisms (e.g., board composition, executive compensation, and shareholder activism) in promoting transparency, accountability, trust, and long-term value creation. The role of international organizations, treaties, and agreements that govern global issues (e.g., climate change, trade, and human rights), the impact of ESG disclosures on corporate behaviour, trust development, risk management, and shareholder engagement need to be studied. The increasing number of corporate failures highlights the importance of a better understanding of the balance between trust and control, where the role of auditors is key in strengthening governance and improving corporate information transparency. Related to this shift is the growing significance of managing stakeholder relationships and rent appropriation to remedy the harm firms and entrepreneurs cause in creating wealth. While traditional corporate social responsibility has a role to play, firms and entrepreneurs are increasingly challenged to co-create solutions to sustainable development goals and in ways that allow stakeholder groups to appropriate some of the wealth the firm creates as part of accountability remedies and meeting ESG expectations.
Examples of our engagement and contribution to practice and policy/regulatory debates
Dan Ladley's Leverhulme grant examining the performance of performance-related pay.
Ayman Omar’s research Beware the corporate psychopath has been covered by numerous media outlets (including Reuters and Bloomberg) and led to collaboration with the Chartered Governance Institute UK.
Ania Zalewska has been involved in round tables, panels and workshops organised by the Institute for Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (e.g., Professional judgement: making better choices, Business Resilience and Best Practice for Avoiding Corporate Failure, Why do companies fail?)
Mat Hughes has published work on governance and its effects on innovation and entrepreneurship in family businesses, commissioned by the Family Business Research foundation: