Corporate Governance and Ownership Structure in Sub-Saharan Africa Countries

ABSTRACT

This study examines the relationship between corporate governance and ownership structure for the firms listed in the stock exchanges of 12 Sub-Saharan Africa countries, using data for the years 2006–2009. The findings indicate both managerial ownership and concentrated ownership are negatively related with corporate governance index. The results suggest managerial ownership and concentrated ownership are either the substitute of other good governance practices in reducing agency problems or cause of entrenchment. Furthermore, the results suggest that among the ownership structures variables the concentrated ownership and managerial ownership are key determinants of the adoption of other good corporate governance in the firms listed primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa countries.

KEYWORDS:

• Corporate governance
• ownership structure
• Sub-Sahara Africa

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ This data set has been used in other studies such as Munisi (2017), Munisi and Mersland (2016), Munisi et al. (2014) and Munisi and Randøy (2013).

² Fractional Instrumental Variable Probit is a modified version of Stata’s ivprobit command.