Corporate Governance Turmoil: The Texas Savings And Loan Debacle Of The Eighties

Abstract

We present an exploratory study of changes in board composition of Texas savings and loan associations during the tumultuous 1980s. The purpose of the study is to explore the relationship between director turnover and S&L failure. While director turnover constitutes a board attribute that is concrete and conspicuous to the outside world, very few studies have examined its role as a potentially informative indicator of board performance. This is in sharp contract with the extensive research on executive turnover and succession.