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Company Stock in Defined Contribution Plans: Evidence from Proxy Voting
Author(s) -
Park Heejin
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
financial management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.647
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1755-053X
pISSN - 0046-3892
DOI - 10.1111/fima.12147
Subject(s) - voting , proxy (statistics) , stock (firearms) , business , proxy voting , accounting , actuarial science , group voting ticket , politics , computer science , political science , mechanical engineering , machine learning , law , engineering
I examine whether firms’ decisions to offer company stock in defined contribution (DC) plans are explained by managers’ corporate control motives. Using a large sample of proxy voting outcomes, I find that employee ownership in DC plans is significantly and positively associated with the level of voting support for management‐sponsored proposals. This suggests that managers encourage employee DC holdings in company stock in order to receive higher voting support in favor of management. The effects of employee ownership on voting outcomes are significantly greater in specific subsamples where employee vote is more important to management.