Search Results (30)

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has faced challenges like political instability and economic fluctuations, which have impacted non-performing loans (NPL) levels. At the same time, over the years, reforms and regulations have encouraged stronger board structures to enhance corporate governance and improve risk management. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how board characteristics affect non-performing in the MENA region. Board characteristics shape governance quality, which influences risk management and reduces banks’ risk-taking behaviours. Hence, effective governance can reduce non-performing loans by improving oversight and credit decisions. To this end, we used a sample of 70 banks operating in 12 countries in the MENA region from 2010 to 2022. The System Generalized Method of Moments (SGMM) was employed as an empirical technique. To benefit from a comparative analysis, we divided the entire sample into two subsamples. The first subsample covers six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries with 42 banks. The second subsample is also relative to six non-Gulf Cooperation Council (non-GCC) countries with 28 banks. The empirical findings indicate that the presence of independent board members, a higher number of female board members, board remuneration, and the board index decrease NPLs across all regions, including MENA, GCC, and non-GCC. However, we found that board size, tenure, and duality increase NPLs. The results of this paper are beneficial for both policymakers and bankers, as they provide insights into how governance through board characteristics influences credit risk. These results support better decision-making in board appointments and governance practices to improve risk management and reduce non-performing loans. Full article

While outside chief executive officers (CEOs) are often viewed as catalysts for strategic change compared to their inside counterparts, this study reveals their potential to undermine firms’ environmental responsibility. Integrating agency theory with social capital theory, we investigate whether and how board-level social capital can moderate the sustainability risks associated with outside CEO succession. Using a panel dataset of 989 pollution-intensive Chinese firms from 2010 to 2022, we apply propensity score matching (PSM) to reduce endogeneity in CEO succession decisions, followed by fixed-effects regressions. The empirical results show that outside CEOs, particularly during their early tenure, are more likely to prioritize short-term financial performance over environmental goals—due to limited firm-specific knowledge and heightened external pressure. However, external board social capital (e.g., ties to government and industry associations) enhances resource access and post-appointment accountability, while internal social capital (e.g., co-working experience among directors) establishes common norms that facilitate strategic continuity. This study positions board social capital as a relational governance mechanism that complements formal oversight. The findings contribute to succession and environmental research by linking executive origin to sustainability outcomes and provide practical guidance on leveraging board networks to support leadership transitions. Full article

This study examines the influence of chairman characteristics on dividend policy within Moroccan firms listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange, addressing a critical gap in the behavioral finance literature. This research focuses on five key attributes of chairmen—age, gender, nationality, tenure, and founder status—and analyzes their impact on dividend decisions over a 16-year period (2003–2018). A fixed effects panel data model was employed, incorporating six control variables—firm age, growth opportunities, size, board size, female representation, and foreign ownership. The results demonstrate that chairman age and tenure significantly affect dividend policy. Older chairmen are more risk-averse, favoring higher dividend distributions to ensure financial stability, while longer-tenured chairmen tend to retain earnings for aggressive investments, reflecting overconfidence. The other variables—gender, nationality, and founder status—showed no statistically significant effects in this context. This research provides the first empirical evidence on the relationship between chairman characteristics and dividend policy in Morocco. The findings offer valuable insights for investors, analysts, and policymakers in emerging markets, emphasizing the role of leadership traits in corporate financial strategies. By highlighting the importance of behavioral factors, this study enhances understanding of dividend policy determinants in developing economies. Full article

The intention of this study is to investigate carbon reduction initiatives, board characteristics and sustainability assurance in large, listed firms in Indonesia from 2016 to 2023, given the significance of climate change. Based on fixed effects regression controlling industry effects, we find a positive significant relationship between multiple directorships and carbon reduction initiatives. Additionally, we find a statistically significant association between gender-diverse boards and carbon reduction initiatives, as well as a positive association between sustainability assurance and carbon reduction initiatives. When adopting multiple directorships as a moderating variable, our results reveal a positive relationship between long-tenured board members with multiple directorships and carbon reduction initiatives, suggesting that firms with long-tenured directors and multiple directorships reduce carbon footprint. Robustness checks and endogeneity tests corroborate the main results. This study has important implications for regulators, including policymakers, and contributes to theoretical applications. Full article

This study aims to provide new evidence linking director tenure to corporate misconduct by analyzing the sample of publicly listed companies in China from 2009 to 2022. The findings reveal a significant positive correlation between director tenure and corporate misconduct, which is negatively moderated by director network position. Further analysis shows that both independent and non-independent directors’ tenure increases the likelihood of corporate misconduct, while the centrality of independent and non-independent director networks negatively moderates these corresponding effects. Moreover, external audit quality plays a mediating role in the relationship between director tenure and corporate misconduct. This study elucidates the boundary conditions and mechanisms of corporate misconduct, supporting the management friendliness hypothesis. It offers practical implications for regulators and policymakers to strengthen board governance and audit oversight, thereby contributing to the research on the prevention of corporate misconduct. The limitations of the study include its geographical focus on the Chinese market, suggesting that future research should explore cross-national differences. These findings provide valuable insights for preventing corporate misconduct and promoting corporate sustainability. Full article

Purpose: the purpose of this study is to investigate whether corporate governance mechanisms and attributes influence the sustainability performance of companies included in the BIST 50 Index. Results and contributions: Regression analysis showed that there was a significant positive influence of board tenure on sustainability performance and all its types; board size on environmental performance; and a dummy variable for board evaluation externally facilitated and company size on sustainability, environmental, and social performance. A significant negative impact of director attendance at board meetings on social performance was also revealed. This study contributes to the literature on the role of corporate governance in achieving the SDGs for BIST 50 Index companies, highlighting the significant impact of its individual indicators on the achievement of sustainability performance. Methodology: The authors reviewed 45 sustainability reports of BIST 50 Index companies for 2023. Four indices—Sustainability Performance, Environmental Performance, Social Performance, and Corporate Governance Performance Indexes—were developed to characterize sustainability performance and its types based on a content analysis of sustainability disclosures. To analyze the influence of mechanisms and characteristics of the corporate governance system on sustainability performance, eight independent variables were used: board size, number of board meetings, director attendance at board meetings, board independence, board tenure, a dummy variable for board evaluation externally facilitated, a dummy variable for internal auditors present, and a dummy variable for CEO and Chair functions combined. Two control variables, company size and leverage, were used as well. Gap: Today, the scientific literature has no universal approach and understanding of how the corporate governance system should be developed to improve sustainability performance or its individual components. Relevance: Development of a corporate governance system is one of the ways to increase the level of sustainability performance of companies. Impact: The results of the study made it possible to produce several recommendations (expand the number of board members, develop an effective procedure for regular changes of general directors in company boards, introduce independent external control tools in the corporate governance systems of companies) that will lead to the achievement of SDGs 5, 8, 16. Full article

The current study investigates the relationship between the CEO’s power, the workforce’s productivity, and the company’s value in Iraqi stock exchange companies. A sample of 34 companies listed on the Iraqi Stock Exchange from 2016 to 2021 was tested using a multiple regression model, a panel data approach, and a fixed effects model. CEO power is measured by the busing factor analysis approach, which integrates four indices: CEO salary, CEO ownership, CEO tenure, and CEO control over board members. The findings indicate a positive and significant relationship between CEO power and labor productivity. Also, there is a negative and significant relationship between CEO power and the stickiness of labor costs. On the other hand, we found a positive and significant relationship between the CEO power and firm value. In addition, labor cost stickiness has a positive effect on firm value. By highlighting the CEOs’ power, this research tries to increase companies’ attention to this issue and its effect on improving employment productivity, cost management, and firm value. Full article

Starting with the work of Hernando de Soto in the 1980s, the role of land tenure soon attracted the attention of the international development community as a neoliberal-oriented theory of change rooted in the possession and use of private individual land titles by the poor. One of the central mechanisms proposed by de Soto was a three-step process that involves the poor (1) “securing” their tenure with land titles, (2) using their newly acquired land titles as collateral to leverage large amounts of microcredit to be used to establish a functioning microenterprise, and then (3) escaping from their poverty due to the jobs and income associated with founding and running a microenterprise. This paper explores what I call de Soto’s “three steps to heaven” theory of change, a concept that was taken on board with gusto by leading Western governments and virtually all of the main international development institutions, particularly the World Bank. I argue that Cambodia provides the ideal setting for evaluating de Soto’s concept because, since around 2020, it has possessed the largest microcredit sector in the world (on a per capita basis), thanks largely to the obligatory use of land titles as the collateral required to obtain microcredit. While the first two of de Soto’s “three steps to heaven” have been realized, the evidence shows that the assumptions related to step three have proved to be extremely problematic: the ubiquity of microcredit that was achieved since the early 2010s via steps one and two has not, in general, improved the lives and communities of Cambodia’s poor through accelerated microenterprise development. It appears, instead, to have contributed to deeper poverty, insecurity, vulnerability and inequality. I conclude that de Soto’s “three steps to heaven” theory reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the real institutional drivers of sustainable local economic development and poverty reduction. Full article

This study investigates the effect of the characteristics of the board of directors on the accrual and real earnings management level, focusing on the role of the corruption level. The employed dataset consists of 469 European-listed firms from 2011 to 2019. Using a fixed-effect panel data regression model, the results documented that larger boards lack coordination and communication in less corrupt economies, facilitating earnings manipulation through accruals and sales. In highly corrupt countries, oversized boards are associated with increased manipulation of production costs and discretionary expenses. Board meetings are positively related to accrual and sales manipulation in low-corruption countries, and board independence leads to reducing discretionary expenses regardless of corruption level. Board tenure negatively affects accruals and discretionary expenses but tends to increase manipulation through production costs in low-corruption contexts. Additionally, when the CEO serves as the board chairman, it encourages the manipulation of discretionary expenses while reducing real earnings manipulation through sales and production costs. In aggregate, the level of corruption can influence a board’s effectiveness under specific conditions. Full article

This paper explores the moderating role of family ownership in the relationship between board diversity and financial performance. The study sampled data of 98 Saudi non-financial companies from 2012 to 2021. The data were analysed using fixed effect regression, while a generalised method of moments (GMM) was employed for a robustness test. The empirical evidence suggests that board gender may not have much relevance in enhancing the financial performance of Saudi firms. In contrast, the research findings emphasised that coupled with stringent monitoring from family ownership, foreign directorship, CEO tenure, and board financial expertise may serve as crucial control mechanisms that can minimise agency costs, leading to higher financial performance. This research modelled how the interaction between family ownership and board diversity attributes may determine financial performance. Hence, the study contributes to the body of knowledge by unveiling a more robust control governance mechanism, particularly in developing economies with ineffective markets for corporate controls. Full article

Introduced in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) emerged as a crucial catalyst in facilitating outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) of Chinese private enterprises. While the majority of BRI participant countries are characterized by high risk of violent conflicts, we have limited understanding of why firms invest in such regions despite such inherent risks. Thus, the aim of this study is to unveil the determinants of engagement in risky investment projects. Drawing on the literature of international business and strategic management, this study seeks to examine the relationship between CEO tenure and its impact on the likelihood of undertaking risky investments in the context of Chinese private firms in BRI participant countries. Using the sample of 1140 listed privately owned Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs) that invested in at least one foreign country between 2013 and 2019, panel logistic regression was conducted to test the hypothesized relationships. The findings of this study indicate that the longer the CEO holds their position, the less likely the firm is to undertake risky investments. Moreover, when the longevity of CEO tenure is coupled with the presence of a dominant shareholder, this effect is further exacerbated. Furthermore, when a long-tenured CEO serves as the chairman of the board, the resistance to undertaking risky investment becomes stronger. By highlighting the effects of CEO tenure, as well as the relationship between governance characteristics and engagement in risky investment projects, this study suggests a sustainable corporate governance structure to build a transparent decision-making process for both investing firms and the host countries. Full article

The study aimed to compare the effect of sound corporate governance on manufacturing companies in South Africa, Nigeria, and Ghana on financial performance. The study used a purposive sampling method to select 60 manufacturing companies, of which twenty-nine (29) were from South Africa, 17 were from Nigeria, and 14 were from Ghana. The study employed GMM and FMOLS to estimate the effect of corporate governance on the firm’s financial performance. According to the study, South Africa has the longest average board tenure at 7.85 years, followed by Nigeria at 4.7 years and Ghana at 3.9 years. The average board tenure was found to have a positive and statistically significant effect on the return on invested capital (ROIC) of the firms in South Africa and Ghana, and a positive and statistically insignificant effect was found for the firms in Nigeria. The study indicated that the firms in South Africa have the highest percentage of female directors at 24.26%, followed by Ghana at 17.8% and Nigeria at 17.3%. The study showed that female representation on the corporate board has a positive and statistically significant effect on all firms’ return on net operating assets (RONOA). The study provides policy implications for shareholders, boards of directors, and other stakeholders by enabling them to build confidence in the corporate governance structure of manufacturing companies in the three countries. Full article

In this study, we examined the association between CEO greed and corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance with a particular emphasis on the curtailing role of corporate governance. We found that CEO greed has a negative effect on CSR, since an uncontrolled pursuit of personal gain typically reveals myopic behavior and the foregoing of investment in CSR by a greedy CEO. Additionally, we found that CEO compensation in the form of large bonuses, support, and restricted stocks options weakened the link between CEO greed and CSR. Concerning the power dynamics amongst CEOs (CEO duality and tenure), we found that CEO duality moderates the negative relation between CEO greed and CSR. We also explored the curtailing role of corporate governance (proxies represented by board gender diversity and board independence) in the association between CEO greed and CSR. Our findings show that gender diversity curtails the negative effect of CEO greed on CSR once it reaches critical mass on the corporate board. Gender critical mass also curtails the negative impact of CEO greed on CSR, even if the CEO exercises duality. Our findings have empirical and practical implications. This study contributes to the existing literature by exploring the relationship between CEO greed and CSR in Asia, a region not renowned for CSR performance. This study also provides evidence for the curtailing role of compensation and governance factors in the negative relationship between CEO greed and CSR. Full article

The aim of this paper is to examine the characteristics and conduct of boards in non-financial Malaysian firms, with a particular emphasis on the companies’ financial leverage, using panel data spanning from 2012 to 2018. Overall, the study reveals that the relationship between board attributes and a firm’s financial leverage is significant, but mixed. Notably, we find that extremely small or large boards are ineffective in maintaining the optimal financial leverage level that benefits all stakeholders. Our study concludes that board independence is negatively correlated with financial leverage, whereas the tenure of board members is negatively associated with financial leverage. Additionally, board diversity exhibits a statistically significant and positive correlation with financial leverage. Currently, the Malaysian corporate governance code advocates announcing regulations to regulate corporate structures. Full article

This paper examines the role of sustainability as a major driver of innovation, and assesses its affect on firms’ performance. This study was based on companies listed in the Forbes list of 100 most innovative companies and BCG’s 50 most innovative companies. The innovative sample firms had higher ESG and component scores than the matched control firms, with statistical significance. In terms of distinctiveness of governance, the innovative firms had larger boards, independent board members, higher diversity, and longer board tenure. Innovative firms had superior financial performance in comparison with the matched control firms. A logit regression model was employed to predict whether firms that adopt sustainability initiatives tend also to be innovative companies. Firms with high intensity of investment in social and governance initiatives tended to be innovative. Innovative firms had greater focus on social initiatives related to employee satisfaction, promotion of a healthy and safe workplace, and diversity. However, innovative firms tended to score lower in terms of human rights initiatives. Innovative firms provided superior governance practices for shareholders and effective usage of antitakeover defense mechanisms. Debt-intensive firms tended to be innovative. Full article