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This study aims to empirically examine whether there is any optimal Shari’ah supervisory board’s (SSB) size that maximizes performance of Islamic banks (IBs). Apparently, IBs adopt different SSB size based on their different regulations across jurisdictions, and then it is still questionable whether there is any optimal SSB size that can fit all and be recommended to IBs.

The paper investigates the impact of different SSB size on IBs performance using a sample of 113 banks over 23 countries for the period 2007-2015 based on the generalized method of moments estimator.

The empirical evidence documented in this study strongly highlights the importance of small SSB size in enhancing the performance of IBs as compared to the large board size. The findings confirm that the SSB size of IBs should neither be lesser than three nor greater than six. More specifically, it is found that the optimal SSB size seems to be five.

First, the study does not investigate whether the findings are constant during crisis and non-crisis periods. Second, the optimal SSB size in IBs should be confirmed from the risk-taking perspective besides performance.

For both the IBs and the regulators, they should give due importance to small SSB size as an important element for improving the IBs performance. It is strongly recommended for the IBs to have a SSB size between three and six, and five is the most recommended. The Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions also should revise their existing standards that only suggest the minimum SSB size of three to include the maximum size of six and the optimal size of five.

Despite the SSB size plays an important role in affecting the performance of IBs, it seems there are no empirical studies attempting to address whether there is any optimal SSB size that can enhance the IBs performance so far.

This paper aims to examine whether board-related characteristics matter for cost efficiency in banking sector.

This study uses a sample of publicly traded US commercial banks and savings institutions to estimate a relationship between cost efficiency measured by stochastic frontier analysis and a set of board-related characteristics for the period 2007-2013.

An inverted U-shape relation is found between board size and efficiency. Thus, there is a trade-off between costs and benefits of larger boards. Optimal board size is higher for banks with more complex operations. This study also observed an inverted U-shape relation between board independence and cost efficiency. The banks where the Chairman also executes the CEO responsibility show lower efficiency. However, a higher proportion of independent board members in banks with unitary leadership structure may mitigate the conflict of interest and lower efficiency stemming from CEO duality.

This study’s evidence supports the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision emphasis on advising a board composition that provides for a sufficient degree of director independence.

The results are relevant for banks and their external and internal stakeholders. Banks may adjust their current board characteristics to increase the board effectiveness. Externally, potential investors can evaluate the quality of corporate governance of banks before making investment decisions. The empirical findings can also be useful for regulators imposing corporate governance codes in banking.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to provide empirical evidence on the impact of board characteristics on bank efficiency for a wide panel of US banks. Additionally, a comprehensive set of board-related variables is used.

Demographic faultlines are associated with negative group processes and low performance. Little is known about the formation of faultlines in boards and how they can be weakened to capitalize on the positive effects of diversity.

This study draws on social identity theory and faultlines theory to provide insights into how gender and age faultlines are formed in a board. Subsequently, it proposes and tests a U-shaped board size–faultlines strength relationship. Archival data were collected on 288 organizations listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.

Hierarchical regression analyses indicate that small- and large-sized boards experience stronger faultlines than medium-sized boards.

This study provides pioneering evidence for a U-shaped relationship between board size and demographic faultlines strength. These findings inform practice by suggesting an optimal board size.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of mandatory regulatory provisions on board structure and the influence of such board structure on institutional holdings.

The study uses unique hand-collected data set of Indian IPOs during the 2004-2012 period after the corporate governance reforms with the introduction of clause 49 in the listing agreements in 2001. Using OLS regression, the paper empirically analyses the determinants of board size and board independence at the time of the IPOs and the influence of such a board structure on shareholdings by domestic and foreign institutional investors.

The authors find that complying with mandatory regulatory provisions does not impede firms from structuring their boards to reflect the firms’ advising and monitoring needs. The authors also find that complying with provisions have positive implication for the firm, as firms with greater board independence appear to attract more foreign institutional investors.

To the authors’ best knowledge, this is the first study to examine the issue in a regime where regulation mandates the composition of the board of directors. The paper also extends the literature on institutional holdings by providing evidence on the impact of board structure on institutional ownership at a critical time in a firm’s life cycle when concerns for endogeneity for empirical investigations are weaker.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the performance implications of board size, composition and frequency of board meetings on the performance of banks.

The performance of banks is assessed on various parameters such as return on assets (ROA), Tobin’s Q, non-performing asset ratio (NPA ratio) and the net write-off ratio (NWO ratio). The effects of changes in board size and composition and frequency of meetings on the performance of banks are investigated using feasible generalized least square (FGLS) estimation of panel data covering a time span of five years concerning 40 banks incorporated in India. Frequency of board meetings is taken as a proxy for board activity and involvement. The authors have also tested for endogeneity issues in the model.

A curvilinear relationship was found between the board size and performance of banks. The authors have modelled a cubic form of the relationship for Indian banks. The authors’ findings indicate that an increase in board size is associated with better bank performance within both low and high board size ranges. Alternatively, increased board size is negatively associated with bank performance in the intermediate board size range. The study did not find any significant relationship between performance and frequency of board meetings and board composition.

The behavioural variables reflecting the involvement of the board have not been incorporated in the model to determine the impact of board involvement on the performance of banks owing to the availability of data. It is hoped that this paper will be useful for major regulatory bodies such as the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Company Law Board (CLB) and stock exchanges in India and other emerging economies in devising listing norms and other governance-related aspects.

Non-linear relationships between the board size and performance are not normally prevalent in emerging economies, especially in the banking sector. However, such a relationship exists among the Indian banks. This paper is the first of its kind to identify and address the same.

This paper aims to explore the relationship of promoter ownership and board structure with firm performance for Indian companies.

Corporate governance structures of 391 Indian companies out of CRISIL NSE Index (CNX) 500 companies listed on national stock exchange (NSE) have been studied for their impact on performance of companies. Panel data regression methodology has been used on data for five financial years from 2010 to 2014 for the selected companies. Performance measures considered are market-based measure (Tobin’s Q) and accounting-based measure (return on assets [ROA]).

The empirical findings indicate that market-based measure (Tobin’s Q) is more impacted by corporate governance than accounting-based measure. There is significant positive association between promoter ownership and firm performance. It is also indicated that the relationship between promoter ownership and firm performance is different at different levels of promoter ownership. Board size is found to be positively related to ROA; however, board independence is not found to be related to any of the performance measures.

Limitations of the study are in terms of data methodology and possible omission of some variables. It is felt that endogeneity and reverse causality might be better addressed using simultaneous equation methodology.

The paper adds to the emerging body of literature on corporate governance performance relationship in Indian context using a reasonably wider and newer data set.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of board characteristics on foreign equity ownership (FEO) in the listed public limited companies of Bangladesh.

The study collected data from 418 annual reports of listed companies of Bangladesh for the years 2015, 2016 and 2017 to examine the effect of board characteristics on FEO. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) regression methods are used to test the hypotheses of the study.

The results show that board size has significant negative influence on FEO. Other board characteristics variables such as board independence and female directorship appear to have an insignificant influence on FEO. However, several firm characteristics variables such as return on assets, market-to-book ratio, firm size and firm age have a significant positive relationship with FEO. While presenting the regression results separately for manufacturing and non-manufacturing firms, the findings reveal a number of differences in the results between the two sectors.

The major limitation of the study is that it concentrates only on three years annual report data in analyzing the hypothesized relationships.

Policy makers, regulators and top management can get meaningful insights with respect to optimal board structure and firm characteristics to attract foreign investors as the results revealed significant effects of several board and firm characteristics variables on FEO.

The present study includes the presence of female directors on the board to represent board characteristics. No other study has examined the relationship between FEO and female directors.

This paper aims to examine how board composition, political connections and sustainability practices affect risk-taking and performance of firms.

This paper used secondary data and regression technique to analyse the relationship. A sample consisting of 290 firm-year observations was applied in the analysis.

The findings show that a larger board size contributes to greater financial risk; however, this risk can be reduced with more independent directors in the boardroom. An optimal board size with appropriate number of independent directors is desired, as a large board size can be harmful to firm performance. Politically connected firms also generate lower risk-taking and performance, and the double-edged sword effect of political connections needs to be considered. In terms of sustainability practices, firms have to engage in sustainable development to maximise the firms’ value, not ignoring the vital role of women in strategising business performance. However, the effect of sustainability practices on firms’ risk-taking is still not noticeable.

Even though the sample size is not large because of the limited availability of data, the findings, to a certain extent, could be generalised to emerging markets, as most emerging markets do have similar financial and economic developments.

The findings from this paper can be used to support the implementation of sustainability practices, especially in those countries where sustainability initiatives are yet to be widely accepted.

This is one of the first few studies that examined the effect of non-financial information on risk-taking and performance of firms. This study concludes the positive effect of sustainability practices on firm performance.

This study aims to extend previous research by examining empirically how board structure affects the magnitude of earnings management for companies listed in Portugal. In particular, the paper focuses on the main characteristics of the board structure that are highlighted by the Portuguese Securities Market Supervisory Authority recommendations, i.e. board size, board composition and board's monitoring committees.

The OLS regression model is used to examine the effect of the board structure on earnings management for a sample of 34 non‐financial listed Portuguese companies for the years 2002 to 2007.

The results support the predicted non‐linear relationship between board size and earnings management. It is also found that discretionary accruals are negatively related to board composition. However, no evidence is found that the existence of an audit committee affects the levels of earnings management.

The findings based on this study provide useful information for regulators in other countries. The results also provide useful information for investors in evaluating the impact of board structure on earnings quality, especially under concentrated ownership.

The major contribution of the current study is that, in contrast to similar studies, it does not assume that the two views on how board size associates with firms' earnings management behaviour are mutually exclusive. In addition, this paper is the first empirical study to investigate the effect of the board structure on earnings management in Portugal.

Board size is an important dimension of corporate governance. The purpose of this study is to propose and test indirect effects of organization size on organizational performance via board size, in the context of industry.

The study’s predictions were tested in 288 medium and large organizations listed on the Australian Securities Exchange using archival data.

The findings of this study suggest the following: organization size is positively associated with board size and this relationship is stronger in manufacturing organizations; board size is positively associated with performance and this relationship is conditional on industry; and organization size has an indirect effect on performance via board size, and this indirect effect is also conditional on industry.

The results provide some support for the resource dependency theory, agency theory and contingency theory.

The findings suggest that directors should take into account the effects of board size and industry to provide a more precise assessment of the board’s performance.

It predicts and tests the pioneering moderating effect of industry (manufacturing vs services) on the organization size–board size, board size–organizational performance and organization size–board size–organizational performance relationships.