Professor Mohamed F. Khimji, the David Allgood Professor of Business Law at Queen’s University, has won a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Grant as principal investigator for a project entitled “Shareholder Democracy in Public Corporations – An Empirical and Economic Analysis.” The amount of the award is $155,305 over five years. The research will have wide reaching implications for all members of the general public who invest in the capital markets.  

“I think it’s fair to say that shareholder democracy is the key issue in corporate governance right now,” says Khimji. “While there appears to have been a surge in shareholder engagement in the governance of public corporations in recent decades, there is a lack of empirical data on how shareholder voting operates in practice and also on the extent, types and effectiveness of shareholder engagements. Thanks to SSHRC, this important study is an exciting opportunity to fill that gap.”  

The study will involve generating and analyzing qualitative and quantitative data about shareholder participation in corporate decision and policy making. Shareholder participation in corporate governance is an issue of current interest to law and policy makers. While enhancing shareholder participation in corporate governance is said to result in greater managerial accountability, unduly undermining the authority of management would compromise the success of the public corporation and, on balance, produce less wealth for society. The findings of the study will facilitate more informed law reforms going forward.

Under the grant, the majority of the funds will be used to hire students as research assistants to aid in the project. “Students are integral to the success of the study and will have the opportunity to contribute to all aspects of it,” adds Khimji. In addition, the money will be used to interview key stakeholders in shareholder voting systems. Professor Christopher C. Nicholls, the W. Geoff Beattie Chair in Corporate Law at Western University, is a co-investigator under the grant. The study will provide a thorough empirical analysis of shareholder democracy as a fundamental accountability mechanism in corporate governance.

For more information about the project, please contact Professor Mohamed Khimji at mohamed.khimji@queensu.ca.