Corporate governance and IPO underpricing in a cross-national sample: A multilevel knowledge-based view

• Published in: Strategic management journal Vol. 36; no. 8; pp. 1174 - 1185
• Main Authors: Judge, William Q., Witt, Michael A., Zattoni, Alessandro, Talaulicar, Till, Chen, Jean Jinghan, Lewellyn, Krista, Hu, Helen Wei, Shukla, Dhirendra, Bell (Robert), R. Greg, Gabrielsson, Jonas, Lopez, Felix, Yamak, Sibel, Fassin, Yves, McCarthy, Daniel, Rivas, Jose Luis, Fainshmidt, Stav, Van Ees, Hans
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.08.2015; John Wiley & Sons; Wiley Periodicals Inc
• Subjects: Agency; Agency theory; Board of directors; Boards of directors; Business Administration; Corporate governance; cross-national sample; Economics and Business; Ekonomi och näringsliv; Företagsekonomi; Initial public offering; Initial public offerings; IPO underpricing; Knowledge; Knowledge management; knowledge-based view; Multi-level governance; multilevel models; Pricing policies; Samhällsvetenskap; Social Sciences; Studies
• ISSN: 0143-2095; 1097-0266; 1097-0266
• DOI: 10.1002/smj.2275

Prior studies of IPO underpricing, mostly using agency theory and single-country samples, have generally fallen short. In this study, we employ the knowledge-based view (KBV) to explore underpricing across 17 countries. We find that agency indicators are insignificant predictors, board of director knowledge limits underpricing, and external knowledge both substitutes for and complements internal board knowledge. This third finding suggests that future KBV studies should consider how internal and external knowledge states interact with each other. Our study offers new insights into the antecedents of underpricing and extends our understanding of comparative governance and the KBV of the firm.