The agency cost effects of unionization on firm value

Abstract

Using a sample of 99 New Zealand stock exchange-listed firms, we employ agency framework and strategy typology to examine whether the introduction of unionization legislation affects the value of prospector firms more negatively than defender firms. The results from this examination indicate that firms characterized by strategy of higher Growth-Diversity and Innovation-Risk experience greater loss in value. We attribute the results tot he higher agency costs associated with the strategies adopted by prospector firms. The results hold after controlling for variables such as size, industry membership, labour intensity, and proportion of unionized workers.