Top Management Team Diversity and Acquisition Quality

This research study investigates the impact of top management team diversity (TMT) on the quality of acquisition decisions as reflected in announcement returns to acquirer shareholders. Firms pursue acquisitions with the strategic rationale of increasing shareholder value, improving market share, and achieving economies of scale. Despite these compelling motivations, acquisitions have not always yielded the desired results in terms of increasing shareholder value. This is generally attributed to poor decision making on the part of the TMT. Upper Echelons Theory suggests that TMT decision quality is enhanced when team members come from diverse backgrounds as they bring diversity of opinions and resource knowledge which allow for a more robust sharing of ideas and viable alternatives. Therefore, this study focuses on TMT diversity traits the dimensions of gender diversity, age diversity, job diversity, cultural diversity, tenure diversity, and political affiliation diversity and how these diversity traits impact the decision making process as reflected in the announcement returns of acquirer. I use announcement period returns to acquirer shareholders as my measure of acquisition decision quality due to its extensive use in the finance literature to assess the efficacy corporate policies including investment decisions (Guiso et al., 2008; Bottazzi et al., 2010), cash holdings (Chen et al., 2015) and cost of capital (Gray et al., 2013).I find that age diversity, political diversity, current tenure diversity, and cultural diversity have significant effect on acquisition quality. This means that the shareholders of acquiring firms overall can expect to earn higher abnormal returns when these aforementioned diversity characteristics are present at the TMT level of the firm. Additionally, I find that the impact of these diversity characteristics on acquirer returns are more profound when the deal value of the acquisition is at least 20% of the acquiring firm's size. Furthermore, I also find that TMT diversity characteristics such as gender diversity and total tenure diversity do not have significant effect on acquisition quality as reflected in the announcement returns of the acquirer. Thus, not all diversity characteristics appear to enhance acquisition decision quality. In conclusion, TMT diversity overall promotes better decision making

Adaptation of the Wound Healing Questionnaire universal-reporter outcome measure for use in global surgery trials (TALON-1 study): mixed-methods study and Rasch analysis

BackgroundThe Bluebelle Wound Healing Questionnaire (WHQ) is a universal-reporter outcome measure developed in the UK for remote detection of surgical-site infection after abdominal surgery. This study aimed to explore cross-cultural equivalence, acceptability, and content validity of the WHQ for use across low- and middle-income countries, and to make recommendations for its adaptation.MethodsThis was a mixed-methods study within a trial (SWAT) embedded in an international randomized trial, conducted according to best practice guidelines, and co-produced with community and patient partners (TALON-1). Structured interviews and focus groups were used to gather data regarding cross-cultural, cross-contextual equivalence of the individual items and scale, and conduct a translatability assessment. Translation was completed into five languages in accordance with Mapi recommendations. Next, data from a prospective cohort (SWAT) were interpreted using Rasch analysis to explore scaling and measurement properties of the WHQ. Finally, qualitative and quantitative data were triangulated using a modified, exploratory, instrumental design model.ResultsIn the qualitative phase, 10 structured interviews and six focus groups took place with a total of 47 investigators across six countries. Themes related to comprehension, response mapping, retrieval, and judgement were identified with rich cross-cultural insights. In the quantitative phase, an exploratory Rasch model was fitted to data from 537 patients (369 excluding extremes). Owing to the number of extreme (floor) values, the overall level of power was low. The single WHQ scale satisfied tests of unidimensionality, indicating validity of the ordinal total WHQ score. There was significant overall model misfit of five items (5, 9, 14, 15, 16) and local dependency in 11 item pairs. The person separation index was estimated as 0.48 suggesting weak discrimination between classes, whereas Cronbach's α was high at 0.86. Triangulation of qualitative data with the Rasch analysis supported recommendations for cross-cultural adaptation of the WHQ items 1 (redness), 3 (clear fluid), 7 (deep wound opening), 10 (pain), 11 (fever), 15 (antibiotics), 16 (debridement), 18 (drainage), and 19 (reoperation). Changes to three item response categories (1, not at all; 2, a little; 3, a lot) were adopted for symptom items 1 to 10, and two categories (0, no; 1, yes) for item 11 (fever).ConclusionThis study made recommendations for cross-cultural adaptation of the WHQ for use in global surgical research and practice, using co-produced mixed-methods data from three continents. Translations are now available for implementation into remote wound assessment pathways