International Journal of Corporate Governance (4 papers in press)

Regular Issues

• Corporate governance index, agency issues, cash flow, and investment inefficiency: an international evidence  
  by Jawahar Kumar, Jitendra Mahakud 
  Abstract: This study investigates the impact of corporate governance on investment inefficiency, overinvestment, and underinvestment across 3,589 firms listed in 22 countries from 2014 to 2022. Drawing on agency theory, it examines how internal governance mechanisms influence investment efficiency using a fixed-effects regression model. Sub-sample analyses are conducted for developed and emerging countries, large and small firms, and countries with high and low governance quality, while system GMM estimation confirms the robustness of the findings. The results reveal that stronger corporate governance significantly reduces overall investment inefficiency and overinvestment, whereas its effect on underinvestment is statistically insignificant. Consistent with the free cash flow hypothesis, higher free cash flow exacerbates investment inefficiency. Corporate governance proves more effective in developed countries, large firms, and strong country-level governance environments, where institutional complementarities amplify its disciplinary role. The study underscores the importance of governance quality in optimising investment decisions and mitigating agency conflicts.
  Keywords: corporate governance; cash flow; investment inefficiency; agency problems.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJCG.2026.10081150
   
  
• Are corporate political activities compatible with social and environmental responsibility? An empirical examination of the corporate political responsibility in the Canadian context  
  by Saidatou Dicko 
  Abstract: This research examines the compatibility between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate political activity (CPA); together, these symbolise corporate political responsibility (CPR). We analysed the impact of CPR on companies market and accounting financial performance indicators. Results based on Canadian S&P/TSX index firms over 10 years show a positive and very significant association between CSR and CPA. A company can be socially and environmentally responsible while engaging in CPA. Furthermore, stock market investors seem to view this dual corporate responsibility (CSR and CPR) positively, as the interaction variable between CSR and CPA is positively and significantly correlated with the companies' market financial performance (LnMV), according to the bivariate correlation analysis. This study is the first to empirically measure the concept of CPR in the Canadian context and analyse its financial impact. This constitutes a significant contribution to the literature both on CPA and on CSR. Our results show the particularity of the Canadian context, characterised by both the predominance of highly polluting companies and high CSR scores.
  Keywords: corporate social responsibility; (CSR); corporate political activities; (CPA); corporate political responsibility;(CPR); Canadian listed companies; financial performance.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJCG.2026.10081785
   
  
• Undivided attention: boards of directors and their disparate committee meetings  
  by Andre Havrylyshyn, Jason J. Xiao, Alex H. Pham 
  Abstract: The attention-based view of the firm (ABV) posits that attention is a scarce resource which agents must allocate across competing goals. ABV is particularly salient for boards of directors given boards meet infrequently, yet have a wide range of responsibilities. We examine how boards distribute their limited attention across meetings of the full board, major committees, and minor committees. Using data for S&P 500 firms from 2017-2022, we find that full board meetings and minor committee meetings aid in increasing CEO pay-for-performance (board independence), but diminish the positive effect of compensation committees (nominating committees) on the same outcome. In contrast, the ‘other’ meetings do not affect audit committees’ ability to constrain misreporting. Our results suggest that a board’s effectiveness depends on its allocation of attention across a variety of goals, though in a nuanced fashion that also reflects benefits to collaboration amongst all board participants.
  Keywords: board of directors; committee meetings; attention-based view; CEO compensation; board independence; misreporting.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJCG.2026.10081930
   
  
• Board diversity and bankruptcy risk: the moderating role of financial leverage  
  by A. Priyanka, Padma Anusha, Lokananda Reddy Irala 
  Abstract: This paper provides empirical evidence on how board diversity influences the bankruptcy risk in high capital intensive industries in India and examines the moderating effect of financial leverage on the relationship. This study investigates the impact of demographic, cognitive, structural and aggregate board diversity dimensions on Altman Z-score, which is used as a measure of financial distress. Data were collected from 100 BSE-listed firms from 2015 to 2024. We employ fixed-effects and random-effects models for data analysis and use generalised method of moments (GMM) to address potential endogeneity. The findings reveal significant positive association between cognitive and aggregate board diversity measures on the Altman Z-score, indicating lower bankruptcy risk. However, financial leverage does not significantly moderate this relationship. The study contributes to the governance and financial distress literature by examining the link between board composition and accounting-based bankruptcy risk measure in capital-intensive firms within an emerging market context.
  Keywords: board diversity; bankruptcy risk; financial leverage; Altman Z-score; capital-intensive industries.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJCG.2026.10081931