Dissent in Australian director elections : causes and consequences

Wang, Jiaqi

Dissent in Australian director elections : causes and consequences

Wang, Jiaqi

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Publication Type:: Thesis
Issue Date:: 2024

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Wang, Jiaqi
dc.date.accessioned	2025-10-28T00:18:49Z
dc.date.available	2025-10-28T00:18:49Z
dc.date.issued	2024
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/190576
dc.description	University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Business.	en_US.UTF-8
dc.description.abstract	This thesis investigates the determinants and consequences of shareholder dissent in director elections at annual general meetings. Using Australian voting information, this thesis provides evidence that shareholder dissent is significantly associated with firm performance, corporate governance structure, and director characteristics. Additional analysis reveals that while both vote against and vote abstain are options for shareholders to express their displeasure with boards, a greater number of factors are statistically significant when shareholders have the option to vote against. The consequence analysis shows that shareholder dissent, using against votes, is positively associated with an increased likelihood of director, board, and CEO turnover, and negatively associated with subsequent firm performance. However, the results using abstain votes are insignificant, suggesting that firms view the signal sent by abstain votes differently from that sent through against votes. This thesis contributes to concerns about Australian shareholder engagement at general meetings, and it provides insights into the global debate on election reforms from the plurality to majority voting system in other jurisdictions.	en_US.UTF-8
dc.format	Thesis (PhD)
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US.UTF-8
dc.relation	https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/190576/1/thesis.pdf
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights	The author owns the copyright in this thesis including all reproduction and reuse rights for the work. The work may not be altered without the permission of the copyright owner. Attribution is essential when quoting or paraphrasing from this thesis.
dc.rights	© 2024 Jaiqi Wang
dc.rights	au.edu.uts.lib/cph
dc.title	Dissent in Australian director elections : causes and consequences	en_US.UTF-8
dc.type	Thesis
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*

Abstract:

This thesis investigates the determinants and consequences of shareholder dissent in director elections at annual general meetings. Using Australian voting information, this thesis provides evidence that shareholder dissent is significantly associated with firm performance, corporate governance structure, and director characteristics. Additional analysis reveals that while both vote against and vote abstain are options for shareholders to express their displeasure with boards, a greater number of factors are statistically significant when shareholders have the option to vote against. The consequence analysis shows that shareholder dissent, using against votes, is positively associated with an increased likelihood of director, board, and CEO turnover, and negatively associated with subsequent firm performance. However, the results using abstain votes are insignificant, suggesting that firms view the signal sent by abstain votes differently from that sent through against votes. This thesis contributes to concerns about Australian shareholder engagement at general meetings, and it provides insights into the global debate on election reforms from the plurality to majority voting system in other jurisdictions.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/190576