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Congratulations Dr. Cullen!
The Centre for Corporate Governance is pleased to announce that Ad Astra scholar Margaret Cullen passed her viva voce PhD examination today, 29 September 2011.
Margaret's dissertation "Towards a Grounded Theory of the Role and Effectiveness of Boards of Directors in Investment Fund Governance" was supervised by Prof Niamh Brennan, Academic Director of the Centre. The dissertation was examined by Prof John Roberts of the University of Sydney, one of the world’s foremost experts on boards of directors, and Profs Patrick Gibbons and Anthony Brabazon of the UCD School of Business. The examiners commended the research for its quality, and for its contribution in filling an under-researched a gap in the literature. An abstract of Margaret’s dissertation is shown below:
Abstract
In the absence of prior theorising on the operation of investment fund boards, this research adopts a theory building approach using grounded theory to examine the role and effectiveness of investment fund boards of directors. There is an absence of literature theorising the operation of investment fund boards beyond Fama and Jensen’s (1983) seminal conceptualisations on financial mutuals. Empirical research on investment fund boards takes an agency theoretical perspective and is grounded in the US regulatory framework for investment funds. Prior research ignores the unique characteristics of investment funds (compared with corporations) and stems from a positivist tradition. This has resulted in ambiguous empirical evidence on investment fund board effectiveness.
Twenty five in-depth interviews and one focus group session were conducted with investment fund directors. Over 700 pages of data were analysed using the analytical approaches of Corbin and Strauss (2008). The research culminates in a theoretical framework of the role and effectiveness of boards of directors in investment fund governance constructed from the lived experiences of these directors. The framework reflects three key findings. Oversight, rather than the control and monitoring role synonymous with corporate boards, is the dominant role of investment fund boards. Behavioural (executive and non-executive director), organisational (fund promoter) and regulatory traits are critical in influencing investment fund boards’ effective execution of the oversight role. These traits, specific to investment fund board effectiveness, can be traced to the unique characteristics of investment funds largely ignored in prior research. Fund promoter organisations are the most important influence on investment fund board effectiveness arising from their unique position of power.
This research contributes to prior theoretical literature on the agency relationship between fund investors and fund management by specifying the role fund boards carry out in practice and by capturing the conditions under which fund boards can effectively execute this role. The theoretical framework reflects the practical realities of how fund boards operate. The framework informs future empirical work on investment fund board effectiveness by isolating the antecedents of this effectiveness and by establishing appropriate benchmarks against which investment fund boards should be evaluated. The research has important implications for regulatory policy on investment fund governance.
