A study of the influence of the professional development and work context of the chief executive officer in Australia, the United States and Hong Kong
Creators: name: Taniman, Christian
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2024

description: There is topical debate in the contemporary corporate governance literature arguing for the possibility of convergence of corporate governance practices toward the Anglo-American model, which seeks to maximise shareholder wealth (Rasheed &amp; Yoshikawa 2012). Convergence theorists argue that the Anglo-American model ideally provides the required resource focus and efficiency to manage large corporations. However the differences in culture and regulatory systems across various countries may prevent convergence from taking place. The process of convergence may take time. This thesis examines this tension between the convergence and divergence arguments, specifically in the context of the CEO professional development and work matters and their influence on organisation performance within the Australian, United States and Hong Kong legal jurisdictions.<br><br>This research study is informed by a blend of positivism and critical realism methodologies, favouring deduction on the deductive-inductive continuum. The sample includes the largest 200 companies by market capitalisation from the Australian Stock Exchange; the Russell 200 Index (i.e., the New York Stock Exchange, the NASDAQ); and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, respectively, as at 30th of September 2010. The total sample size is 600 companies. The data was collected from secondary publicly available sources such as annual reports over a three-year period from 2010 to 2012. The research also utilises reliable publicly available archival data in the case where the information from the annual reports was insufficient. Quantitative analysis undertaken includes analysis of variance, descriptive statistics, bivariate correlation statistics, hierarchical multiple regression analysis and moderated regression analysis with the similarities and differences in results for the hypothesis tests giving benchmark insight into points of convergence and divergence in particular country practices.<br><br>The findings show a few areas of difference in the cross-sectional CEO work context data across the three countries, notably the relatively high cases of CEO duality seen in the United States context and the relatively high percentage of CEO share ownership in the Hong Kong context. There is an area of similarity in the positive prediction by a CEO with an output-oriented functional background of the dependent variable organisation performance in the three countries providing support for the convergence argument. In Australia and Hong Kong, CEO share ownership percentage has a positive effect on organisation performance; however, the non-executive director ratio is negatively related to organisation performance. There is an area of similarity in the positive prediction by an insider CEO of the dependent variable organisation performance between the United States and Hong Kong. In the United States only, a CEO with international work experience has a positive effect on firm performance. In Australia only, the moderation hypothesis and the moderation plot suggest that long CEO tenure is associated with better firm performance when the non-executive director ratio is low.<br><br>This thesis contributes to theory development by integrating multiple theories such as the upper echelon theory and relevant corporate governance theories (e.g. agency theory, stewardship theory) in its development of research hypotheses. The findings will assist practitioners in developing a CEO succession plan, training for senior managers and company policies.