Does Board Size Matter?

Does Board Size Matter?

Dirk Jenter, Thomas Schmid, Daniel Urban

Series number :

Serial Number: 
916/2023

Date posted :

May 04 2023

Last revised :

October 16 2023
SSRN Share

Keywords

  • boards of directors • 
  • Board Regulation • 
  • Board Size • 
  • Corporate governance

This paper uses legal board size requirements to test whether board size affects firm performance and value. Since 1976, the minimum size of German firms’ supervisory boards increases from 12 to 16 directors at 10,000 domestic employees, resulting in a sharp increase in board sizes.

Regression discontinuity analyses show that ROA and Tobin’s Q decline by 2-3 percentage points and 0.20, respectively, at the threshold. A difference-in-differences analysis around the law’s introduction shows similar effects. Large boards’ underperformance is persistent, not just a transitory effect of adding directors, and large boards are associated with lower profit margins and M&A announcement returns.

View full abstract

Authors

Prof.
Real name:
Dirk Jenter
Research Member
The London School of Economics and Political Science
Real name:
Thomas Schmid
Real name:
Daniel Urban