Audit committee members' social identities and corporate governance roles

This dissertation examines whether audit committee members' social identities and related corporate governance roles are associated with the quality of monitoring performed by the audit committee. To guide my dissertation I develop a conceptual model of how audit committee members' social identities ultimately influence the effectiveness of the audit committee. The model proposes that audit committee members' professional experiences outside of the audit committee lead to expertise and the development of a social identity. The social identity provides audit committee members' with internalized beliefs, norms, and expected actions that affect the corporate governance roles these individuals assume, and ultimately affect the quality of monitoring performed by the audit committee.;Within this conceptual framework, I examine whether audit committee members' social identities are associated with the quality of monitoring performed by the audit committee with two related investigations. First, I employ a field interview methodology and interview 26 audit committee members. Based on these interviews I identify four primary audit committee member social identities derived from professional experiences. I find that these social identities appear to influence how audit committee members view their role on the audit committee, perceive that they add value to management and shareholders, how strongly they identify with the company they serve and its management, and ultimately that they influence audit committee members' judgments.;In my second investigation, I employ an archival methodology to examine whether the four social identities identified in my field study are associated with the quality of financial reporting monitoring performed by the audit committee. Specifically, I examine whether the composition of Initial Public Offering audit committees is associated with the likelihood of an accounting restatement, a material weakness, or whether the company meets or just beats analysts' forecasts. My results suggest that audit committee members' social identities and related corporate governance roles do influence monitoring quality. Furthermore, the results imply that professional experiences typically associated with financial expertise do not provide similar levels of audit committee monitoring effectiveness. Together, my two investigations provide a deeper understanding of determinants of audit committee effectiveness that are not explored in previous research.