Corporate Boards, Shareholding Structures and Voluntary Disclosure in Emerging MENA Economies

Sarhan, A.A. and Ntim, C.G. (2018). ‘Corporate Boards, Shareholding Structures and Voluntary Disclosure in Emerging MENA Economies’, Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies, Forthcoming

32 Pages Posted: 1 May 2018

See all articles by Ahmed Sarhan

Ahmed Sarhan

Northumbria University

Collins G. Ntim

University of Southampton Business School, UK; University of Southampton

Date Written: April 12, 2018

Abstract

Purpose: This paper investigates the level of voluntary compliance with, and disclosure of, corporate governance best practices, and the extent to which board characteristics and shareholding structures can explain discernible differences in the level of voluntary corporate governance disclosure in a number of emerging Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) economies.

Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses a number of multivariate regression methods, namely ordinary least squares, weighted, non-linear, lagged-effects, two stage least squares and fixed-effects regression techniques to analyse data collected for a sample of listed corporations in emerging MENA economies from 2009 to 2014.

Findings: First, in general, MENA listed firms have a relatively lower level of voluntary compliance with, and disclosure of, corporate governance practices compared to listed firms in developed countries. Second, our evidence suggests that corporate board characteristics, including board diversity and audit firm size have a positive association with the level of voluntary corporate governance disclosure. In contrast, the findings indicate that unitary board leadership structure, director shareholdings, and government shareholdings impact negatively on the level of voluntary corporate governance disclosure. The study does not, however, find any evidence to suggest that board size and family shareholdings have any significant relationship with the level of voluntary corporate governance disclosure. The findings are generally robust to alternative measures and potential endogeneity problems.

Originality/value: This is one of the first empirical efforts at investigating the association between corporate governance mechanisms and voluntary disclosure in emerging MENA economies that observably relies on a multi-theoretical framework within a longitudinal cross-country research setting.

Keywords: corporate governance; voluntary disclosure; board characteristics; shareholding structures; emerging MENA economies

JEL Classification: G34

Suggested Citation

Sarhan, Ahmed and Ntim, Collins G., Corporate Boards, Shareholding Structures and Voluntary Disclosure in Emerging MENA Economies (April 12, 2018). Sarhan, A.A. and Ntim, C.G. (2018). ‘Corporate Boards, Shareholding Structures and Voluntary Disclosure in Emerging MENA Economies’, Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3161610

Ahmed Sarhan

Northumbria University ( email )

Newcastle Business School
Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8ST
United Kingdom

Collins G. Ntim (Contact Author)

University of Southampton Business School, UK ( email )

Southampton Business School
Highfield
Southampton, England SO17 IBJ
United Kingdom
+44 (0) 238059 4285 (Phone)
+44 (0) 238059 3844 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/business-school/about/staff/cgn1n11.page

University of Southampton ( email )

Southampton, SO17 1BJ
United Kingdom

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