Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

New Sheriff In Town: Antecedents And Consequences Of Effective Lead Independent Directors, Dinesh Hasija

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines a relatively new form of board leadership structure, the Lead Independent Director (LID), that has not received much attention in the corporate governance literature. This role was adopted in 2003 by most large US firms as a result of stock exchange mandates and pressure from institutional investors. From an agency theory perspective, this new form of leadership structure was designed to give additional control to independent directors, thus enhancing the monitoring function of the board. However, according to symbolic management theory, firms may adopt such a structure merely as a response to institutional pressures, thus making no …