學者或女性獨立董事的價值：來自離職事件的證據

The Value of Academic or Female Independent Directors: Evidence from Resignation Events

本研究以2007年至2017年之台灣上市櫃公司作為研究對象，探討學者獨立董事及女性獨立董事離職宣告的市場反應及對盈餘品質的影響。明確來說，本研究利用離職事件試圖捕捉這些獨立董事所扮演的治理角色，以及市場投資人如何評斷其治理價值。實證結果顯示，學者獨立董事的離職宣告會產生負向的市場反應，且相較於非學者獨立董事的離職，學者獨立董事的離職宣告會有更為負向的市場反應。同時，我們也發現微弱證據支持相較於男性獨立董事的離職，女性獨立董事之離職宣告會有較為負向的市場反應。此外，本研究發現相較於那些未發生獨立董事離職之公司，有發生獨立董事離職之公司的盈餘品質較差，且若離職之獨立董事至少有一位為學者或至少有一位是女性成員時，對盈餘品質會有更為不利的影響。整體而言，本研究結果印證學者或女性獨立董事具有一定的治理有效性，且呼應主管機關對建構多元化及專業化之董事會的訴求。

"Using a sample of firms listed in the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation (TWSE) and the Taipei Exchange (TPEx) from 2007 to 2017, this study examines whether the resignation of academic (or female) independent directors elicits a negative market reaction and is associated with poor earnings quality. Specifically, this study exploits such resignation events to capture whether independent directors play important governance roles and how investors value the contributions of independent directors. The empirical results show a negative market reaction to resignations of academic independent directors, and compared to non-academic independent director resignations, the announcement of academic independent director resignations elicits a more negative market reaction. Also, we find weak evidence that compared to male independent director resignations, female independent director resignations also trigger a more negative market reaction. In addition, the study finds that compared to companies without independent director resignations, the earnings quality of companies with independent director resignations is worse, especially those companies that have at least one of the resigned independent directors which is a scholar or a female member. Overall, our finding confirms the governance effectiveness of academic or female independent directors and responds to the appeal of Taiwan’s Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) for constructing a diversified and professional board of directors."