Corporate Board Characteristics and Performance of Non-Financial Firms in Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigates if there is any relationship between certain corporate board characteristics and financial performance of non-financial listed firms in Nigeria. It uses secondarily sourced panel data over the period from 2005 to 2020 of 76 such firms listed on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Group (NXG). The generalized method of moments (GMM) results reveal that while board size(BS), board compensation(BC), board meetings(BM) and board members with military experience(BME) are positively significant with performance; board independence(BI), board gender diversity(BGD), board national diversity(BND), board tribal diversity(BTD), board busyness(BB), board members’ education level(BE) and board foreign directors(BFD) are negatively significant with performance but board shareholding or ownership(BSH) is insignificant. All the control variables (leverage, market–to-book ratio, firm size, year fixed effect dummy as well as the industry sector fixed effect dummy) are statistically significant. This study concludes with some recommendations.