Title: Governance codes and types of issuer: a global study

Authors: Giulio Greco; Silvia Ferramosca; Luciano Marchi

Addresses: Department of Economics and Management, University of Pisa, Via C. Ridolfi, 10-56123 Pisa, Italy ' Department of Economics and Management, University of Pisa, Via C. Ridolfi, 10-56123 Pisa, Italy ' Department of Economics and Management, University of Pisa, Via C. Ridolfi, 10-56123 Pisa, Italy

Abstract: We study the relationship between the types of issuer and the contents of the governance codes in the new-institutional theory, using a global sample of over 70 national governance codes. We hypothesise that the code recommendations are influenced by the isomorphic pressure to embrace new social practices, exerted by the different types of issuer. The findings show that codes issued involving multiple stakeholder groups and organisations in hybrid committees are more likely to: 1) include recommendations that take into account multiple political and social institutional demands; 2) adapt the mainstream agency-theory-based governance model to the national setting. Overall, the policy-making negotiations among different stakeholder groups in the local institutional setting appear to be determinant in shaping the recommendations of the code and in improving the promotion of good governance among firms. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to systematically investigate the relationship between the types of issuer and the contents of codes, in a global sample.

Keywords: governance codes; issuer types; policy making negotiations; new institutional theory; multiple stakeholder groups; multiple organisations; hybrid committees; multiple demands; political demands; social demands; institutional demands; agency theory; governance models; national settings.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBGE.2015.068681

International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, 2015 Vol.10 No.1, pp.28 - 56

Received: 13 Feb 2014
Accepted: 25 Sep 2014
Published online: 08 Apr 2015 *

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