READ ME File For 'Datasets Supporting the Thesis: Impact of Banker-Directors on Corporate Governance'

Dataset DOI: https://doi.org/10.5258/SOTON/D3409

Read Me Author: Abdurrahim Altunisik, University of Southampton, ORCID ID: 0009-0006-9424-6272

This dataset supports the thesis entitled:
"Impact of Banker-Directors on Corporate Governance"

AWARDED BY: University of Southampton 
DATE OF AWARD: 2025

DESCRIPTION OF THE DATA

This dataset contains data supporting Chapters 2, 3, and 4 of the thesis "Impact of Banker-Directors on Corporate Governance." It includes data on director quality, R&D investments, and ESG performance of firms with banker-directors, specifically analysing the impact of regulatory enforcement actions and the Dodd-Frank Act.

The dataset is structured as follows:

1. Chapter 2: Director Quality and the Dodd-Frank Act

Firm-level governance data of Bank Holding Companies (BHCs) from regulatory filings

Director characteristics including education, experience, and professional background

Treatment variable indicating pre- and post-Dodd-Frank Act implementation

Difference-in-Differences and Regression Discontinuity design applied

Source: SEC Filings, BoardEx, and hand-collected data

2. Chapter 3: Banker-Directors’ Influence on R&D Investments

Panel dataset of non-financial firms with banker-directors between 1990-2021

R&D intensity measures from Compustat

Enforcement-linked firm-years based on regulatory reports

Control variables: firm size, leverage, market-to-book ratio, industry-fixed effects

Source: Compustat, BoardEx, and enforcement action reports

3. Chapter 4: Banker-Directors and ESG Performance

ESG scores for non-financial firms with banker-directors from 2010-2021

ESG pillar scores (Environmental, Social, Governance)

Treatment variable: Regulatory enforcement actions

Robustness tests including entropy balancing and propensity score matching

Source: Refinitiv ESG Database, BoardEx, and regulatory enforcement reports

Date of Data Collection

Director Quality Dataset (Chapter 2): 2005-2015

R&D Investment Dataset (Chapter 3): 1990-2021

ESG Performance Dataset (Chapter 4): 2010-2021

Geographic Location of Data Collection

United States-based firms

Software Required

STATA for statistical analysis

Excel for data management and visualisation

Data Processing & Cleaning

Raw data collected from multiple financial databases

Data filtered for firm-years relevant to the study

Missing values handled through imputation and robustness checks

Explanations of Acronyms and Coding

BHC = Bank Holding Company

R&D = Research and Development investment

ESG = Environmental, Social, and Governance

DFA = Dodd-Frank Act

Enforcement-Linked Firms = Firms impacted by regulatory enforcement actions

Annotation of Any Anomalies

Some missing ESG scores due to incomplete reporting by firms

Outliers identified and winsorised at 1% level

Possible survivor bias in R&D dataset as firms with low innovation intensity exit the sample

Related Publications

Altunisik, A. (2025). "Impact of Banker-Directors on Corporate Governance." PhD Thesis, University of Southampton.

Ethical Considerations

The dataset does not contain personally identifiable information (PII).

Compliance with ethical standards of data handling and storage.

No participant consent form required as data is from publicly available sources.

Date that the file was created: March 2025
Contact Information: a.altunisik@soton.ac.uk