Understanding decoupling in response to corporate governance reform pressures: The case of codes of good corporate governance
Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance
ISSN: 1358-1988
Article publication date: 9 November 2015
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to explain under what circumstances firm-level adoption of codes of good corporate governance will more likely be superficial rather than substantive in nature. The article contains lessons for any agency or country that attempts to implement deep and lasting changes in corporate governance via codes of good corporate governance.
Design/methodology/approach
The article reviews the literature on compliance with codes of good corporate governance and develops a conceptual model to explain why some firms that have formally adopted a code of good governance decouple this policy from its actual use.
Findings
Decoupling in response to the issuance of codes of good corporate governance will be more attractive to firms and also more sustainable under the following conditions: firms’ compliance costs are relatively high firms’ costs of outright and visible non-compliance are relatively high and outsiders’ compliance monitoring costs are relatively high.
Originality/value
The article contributes to the debate on compliance and convergence and provides policymakers with a conceptual framework for assessing the likelihood of successful regulatory change in corporate governance.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author acknowledges the helpful comments and suggestions of anonymous reviewers and participants at the 70th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management in Montreal Canada at which an earlier version of this manuscript was presented.
Citation
Krenn, M. (2015), "Understanding decoupling in response to corporate governance reform pressures: The case of codes of good corporate governance", Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance, Vol. 23 No. 4, pp. 369-382. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFRC-04-2014-0019
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited