Abstract
Military directors—outside directors with military backgrounds—frequently occupy seats on the boards of publicly listed firms in the United States. Military service instills an enduring system of values and beliefs rooted in accountability, which, we argue, makes military directors more inclined to attribute performance shortfalls to the CEO and advocate for more rigorous CEO accountability, resulting in CEO dismissal. Our argument is supported by quantitative data on CEO dismissals within publicly listed firms and qualitative data derived from interviews with military directors who have served on boards of those firms. Our findings underscore that principles ingrained via military service may influence corporate governance, particularly one of its core components: executive accountability.Research Summary
Managerial Summary