Events

Professor Susan Shu
Professor
Carroll School of Management
Boston College

Using an internal survey from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), we find that SEC offices vary considerably in the degree to which they exhibit a results-oriented organizational culture. Motivated by this observation and the fact that government agencies are frequently criticized for being inefficient, we ask whether greater results-orientation enhances the SEC’s investigative and enforcement functions. We find robust evidence that SEC offices are more likely to initiate investigations when their employees perceive these offices as being more results-oriented. However, results-oriented offices tend to target firms that are “easier” to investigate, and investigations opened by results-oriented offices are less likely to uncover violations that lead to subsequent enforcement actions. Nevertheless, results-oriented offices are still more effective at deterring financial reporting misconduct compared to offices that are less results-oriented. Overall, our results provide a first glimpse of how organizational culture influences the quality of services provided by public-sector agencies.