The effect of implementation of the Stewardship Code on nonprofessional investors’ judgment and decision-making

Since 2010, the Stewardship Code (SC) or similar regulations have been introduced in many countries in order to enhance the quality of institutional investors’ engagement and to improve long-term firm value. Although the effectiveness of the SC has been the subject of ongoing controversy in prior anecdotal or legal studies, there has been little empirical evidence regarding the effects of these policies due to the relatively recent adoption of such codes worldwide. Accordingly, the purpose of this article is to investigate how capital market participants perceive and evaluate the implementation of the SC. Specifically, we examine how SC implementation affects nonprofessional investors’ judgment and decision-making on an investee firm. Based on the results of an experiment with nonprofessional investors, we show that the implementation of the SC may negatively impact nonprofessional investors’ assessments of the firm, contrary to the intended purpose of SC adoption. This study provides timely implications for the future operation and development of the stewardship policies recently adopted in many countries.