Analysis of Board Size and Firm Performance: Evidence from NSE Companies Using Panel Data Approach

Abstract

This article seeks to examine the relationship between the board size and firm performance. Existing literature on board size is based on different theories of corporate governance. While agency theory and resource dependency theory suggest that the board size positively affects performance, stewardship theory favours smaller board size and argues that larger board size negatively impacts the firm performance. The present article adds to the empirical literature by employing panel data analysis of 145 non-financial companies listed in the NSE CNX 200 Index of India corresponding to 16 industries. The study is carried out for a period of five years from 2008 to 2012. The firm performance has been measured using Tobin’s Q and the market-to-book value ratio (MBVR) as market-based measures and return on assets (ROA) and return on capital employed (ROCE) as accounting-based measures. The fixed effect model, random effect model and feasible generalised least square (FGLS) regression models are applied to achieve the above-mentioned objectives. The results conclude that the board size has a positive and significant impact on the firm performance.