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This cross-country study aims to investigate from an interdisciplinary perspective the impacts of the accounting regulation's strength and cultural values of long-term orientation (LTO) and indulgence (ND) on board efficacy in developing countries.

Board Efficacy Index scores for 54 developing countries over the period 2007–2016 were employed to ascertain predictors of management's accountability to boards of directors and investors. Two types of explanatory variables – formal and informal – were employed in a pooled Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) analysis.

The research is the first to empirically show that more LTO and ND in a country have significant and positive effects on board efficacy. The findings also show that the strength of auditing and reporting standards (SARS) has a dominant impact on board efficacy, and the SARS' consideration is recommended in future cross-country research on board efficacy.

To restore investor confidence and increase the credibility toward firms, regulatory authorities in developing countries are called upon to integrate compliance with accounting and auditing regulations combined with cultural values in the implementation of good governance practices.

This study contributes to the board efficacy literature in two significant ways. First, the study constructs and empirically tests a conceptual model that integrates both informal factors, the six cultural dimensions of Hofstede et al. (2010), and formal factors, the strength of accounting regulations. Second, conducting a study on a sample not widely used in the literature, over a fairly long period of time, highlights the governance characteristics of this context and strengthens the internal and external validity of the study.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate independent school Boards as teams using a social cognitive perspective. Specifically, the study investigated Board processes and the nature of relationships between Board member self-efficacy, Board collective efficacy and performance of independent school Boards in New South Wales, Australia.

A multiple case study design that used qualitative research methods was employed. An expert steering group provided advice on the categorization of governance structures. A stratified purposeful sample of eight independent school Boards within the Sydney metropolitan area, New South Wales Australia participated. Data were collected from individual, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with the Head of school, Board Chair and two Board members from each school. The interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed using qualitative data analysis procedures suggested in the literature.

The findings provide evidence that for independent school Board members in this study, self-efficacy and collective efficacy beliefs were related to perceptions of Board performance. Board member self-efficacy and Board collective efficacy appeared to be linked. Self-efficacy beliefs were primarily based on mastery experiences. Collective efficacy (at the individual level) primarily was based on members’ perceptions of Board past performance.

This paper provides insight into individual Board member beliefs likely to shape processes associated with independent school Board performance in New South Wales, Australia. The study is one of only a few that have adopted an empirical and descriptive approach, rather than only providing normative direction and imperatives.

This study aims to investigate how culture can either reinforce or attenuate the board efficacy (a key element of corporate governance).

The study uses the data from the World Economic Forum (2006-2014) of 69 countries. The data were restricted to 69 countries because Hofstede et al. (2010) provided cultural value data from 111 countries. However, the data from 42 countries were incomplete for Hofstede et al.’s four dimensions.

The study is the first to show that more religious diversity has a significant negative impact on stronger board efficacy in evaluating corporate governance practices. The results also indicate that more uncertainty avoidance in a country has a significant negative impact and corporate ethics and auditing standards have a positive impact on board efficacy.

The study extends Hofstede et al.’s (2010) cultural value by incorporating religious diversity and corporate ethics as cultural variables in explaining board efficacy in corporate governance literature. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund should focus on cultural factors while developing a single set of Corporate Governance Code worldwide.

The purpose of this paper is to determine how board leadership affects the board strategic involvement in private firms in Kenya and how CEO power moderates this relationship.

The authors used a Kenyan data set to investigate what makes boards in private firms get involved in strategy. Survey data derived from a sample of 186 CEOs of private firms were used, and the hypotheses were tested using moderated regression analysis.

The results indicate that board members’ knowledge, board chairman’s leadership efficacy, board members’ personal motivation and board members’ background all have a positive and significant effect on board strategy involvement. The authors also found that CEO power moderates the relationship between board leadership and strategy involvement. The study concludes that when the CEO wields immense power, the board tends to become passive and to submit to the direction of the CEO.

The study adds value to the understanding of the effect of the board leadership on strategic involvement in private firms and how CEO power influences this relationship, particularly in a developing country like Kenya.

This paper aims to examine how country-level corporate governance structures influence the level of protection of minority shareholders’ rights in the context of Africa.

Data are collected from the world competitiveness report for the period 2010-2015. To examine the validity of the study’s hypotheses empirically, the authors use ordinary least squares with correlated panel-corrected standards error (PCSE).

This paper offers additional empirical evidence on the level of protection of minority shareholders’ rights in Africa. It highlights that country-level corporate governance structures such as efficacy of corporate boards, strength of investor confidence, regulations of securities exchanges and the operation of the Big 4 accounting firms have significant positive impacts on the level of protection of minority shareholders’ rights.

This paper fails to include all African countries because of non-availability of a report for some African countries. Thus, the findings on the level of protection of minority shareholders’ rights in a country are applicable to the countries used in this study.

This paper emphasizes on the relevance of country-level corporate governance structures to ensuring a reasonable level of protection of minority shareholders’ rights.

This paper partially fills the gap regarding the absence of an empirical cross-country study on how country-level corporate governance structures influence the level of protection of minority shareholders’ rights.

The purpose of this study is to understand how the business environment of a country has an impact on cash management policies of the firms and also to investigate if there is any asymmetry in cash adjustment dynamics when a firm deviates from its long-term target of cash holdings.

Using a sample of seven emerging Asian countries in the period 2001–2019, the authors investigate the role of country specific variables in the corporate cash holdings and their cash adjustment mechanism. They use the panel data regression method to estimate the results.

The authors find that the overall financial development of a country has a significant impact on corporate cash holdings and cash adjustment dynamics. When a firm has excess cash, the speed of adjustment towards the target is faster as compared to when it has deficit cash holdings. Further, when a firm holds excess cash, it adjusts towards the target using cash from investments; in case of deficit cash holdings, the adjustment happens via cash from financing activities.

The results of the study are helpful to corporate managers as these are important references to them to understand and design cash management policies by considering factors that are measured at the country level. It also provides them a clearer understanding about the role of corporate board and information asymmetry in cash holdings.

This is the first study which examines the role of country-specific variables on corporate cash holdings and their adjustment mechanism of firms in emerging Asia. Further, the study extends the literature by providing new evidence that there is asymmetry in cash adjustment dynamics of firms after controlling for the overall financial development of a country.

Independent directors (IDs) in India are required to qualify for the online proficiency self-assessment test to acquire or retain their position on the corporate boards. The purpose of this paper was to examine the perceived positive and negative aspects of the new mandate for the overall quality of corporate boards in India.

This study used a qualitative methodology and applied the interpretative phenomenological analysis approach. Data was collected from board members using semi-structured interviews.

This study revealed the positive and negative perceived aspects of the mandatory policy prescription of proficiency test for IDs. It was found that the participants emphasized training and mentoring programs for the IDs.

Drawing upon the actual board experiences of the participants, this study has the potential to assist policymakers in making regulations that are more effective in enhancing the quality of corporate boards. The example of action taken as well as the criticism or positive aspects pointed out can generate interest in other legislators.

The concept of proficiency test for IDs is unique to India. A review of literature did not reveal the existence of any regulatory provisions for a mandatory uniform test for examining the proficiency of IDs, in any corporate law jurisdiction apart from India.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the ethics and accountability environment influences the voluntary assurance demand for integrated reports through the lens of institutional theory.

This study used an international sample of 192 companies that have registered in the International Integrated Reporting Council’s (IIRC) early examples database and that published integrated reports during the years 2011–2016. Binary logistic regression as well as Instrumental Variables (IV) regression with Probit and GMM estimators were employed to test the proposed hypotheses.

The results confirm that assurance of integrated reports serves as a response to the absence or incompetence of formal and informal institutions that facilitate private contracting. Specifically, the authors found that firms tend to assure their integrated reports in business environments that are characterized by weaker ethical behaviors, less effective boards, poorer auditing and reporting standards, and insufficient protection of the rights of minority shareholders by the legal system.

This study responds to the research calls upon integrated reporting assurance by investigating the underlying drivers of and motives for voluntary assurance on integrated reports.

The findings provide practical implications for firms, regulators and assurance firms. Firms can utilize the results of the study in determining their corporate policies and strategies regarding whether to undertake assurance on integrated reports. Regulators can also consider the results in shaping and improving the institutional ethical and accountability environment of their countries. Further, assurance firms can use these results to help position themselves and guide their market entry decisions.

This study adds to the understanding of institutional factors that impact the assurance of integrated reports which has been rarely examined by prior research. In particular, this is one of the few attempts to examine the link between institutional ethics and accountability environment and the voluntary assurance demand in an international context.

The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating role of institutional ownership on the relationship between board gender diversity and earnings management (EM) among listed firms in East African Community (EAC) partner states.

The study used a sample of 71 firms listed in the EAC partner states over 2011–2020. Data were handpicked from the individual firm's audited annual financial reports. Based on the results of the Hausman test, the study used the results of the fixed-effect regression model to test the hypotheses. To test the robustness of the results, the study employed an alternative measure of EM and two additional econometric techniques, including the pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) and the system generalized method of moments (GMM).

The empirical findings revealed that female directors improve the board's effectiveness in monitoring managerial roles. Specifically, the results showed a significantly negative relationship between the proportion of women in the corporate board and EM (as measured by discretionary accruals (DAs)). The findings further revealed an inverse relationship between the proportion of institutional ownership and EM. Finally, the results further demonstrated that institutional ownership enhances the role of board gender diversity in mitigating EM among listed firms in the EAC.

The findings of this study may be useful to managers, investors and regulators in assessing the role of institutional ownership and women's participation on corporate boards as a strategy for alleviating unethical manipulation of earnings.

The findings of this study contribute to the growing concern on gender inequality, especially the marginalization of women from the paid labor force and decision-making. The findings highlight the importance of having more women in the corporate board since this may help in mitigating corporate fraud. Similarly, the findings highlight the importance of institutional ownership as a corporate governance (CG) tool.

Previous studies have reported mixed empirical results on whether board gender diversity mitigates EM. To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first paper to fill the existing gap by exploring whether institutional ownership moderates the relationship between board gender diversity and EM among listed firms in the EAC.

How do families-in-business deal with intergenerational female succession in their company’s corporate governance structures, i.e., the board of directors? How is female boardroom capital built up? This chapter explores the boardroom immersion processes and mentorship programs followed by 44 Mexican and Spanish next-gen women owners of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation, privately-owned, national and international firms, who were appointed for the first time to their family business’ board of directors between 2005 and 2020.

Our outcomes show that intergenerational female corporate governance succession is driven more by particular families-in-business matters, like the inheritance of ownership rights, than by corporate governance codes or soft legislation. We discovered that next-generation women owners are more likely to be appointed for the first time to their family business boardroom when they’re between ages of 38 and 47. Ninety percent (90%) of them will be appointed at or before 57. Our findings also reveal that 4th generation female owners are immersed in the boardroom at a younger age.

When analyzing the immersion processes, we noticed too that due to limited business socialization during their upbringing, some of these well-­educated, professionally qualified females had to cope with holding legal ownership (potestas) in the family firm but missing business decision-making legitimacy (auctoritas) in the governance structure. Based on our results, we developed a families-in-business female boardroom capital development framework to help them achieve both: potestas and auctoritas, as well as to facilitate next-generation women owners’ boardroom incorporation in family enterprises.