Board Structure and Financial Performance of Commercial and Service Firms Listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange, Kenya
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Date
2024-05
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Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Board structure has specific country based features that enables the efficient and effective handling of firms financial performance. In Kenya, the all-round board structure importance in enhancing the commercial and service industry performance cannot be overstated as this potentially affects the profitability of these firms and the industry at large. However, the ineffectiveness and poor management of firms by the board over the years has led to the decline in the commercial and service firms’ financial performance. With regard to this background, this inquiry attempt to close existing gaps in literature by investigating the manner in which board structure affects commercial listed and service listed firms’ financial performance at the Nairobi Securities and Exchange Kenya. With the interest variables to be board size, independence, tenure and age affecting the traded firms’ performance financially on Nairobi Securities and Exchange commercial and service firms in Kenya. An ex-post research design was utilized in this investigation. Relying on the presupposition in which the study employed, stewardship, agency and resources dependence theories were adopted to explain their relevance to the work. Eleven (11) listed commercial and service firms was used to determine how such board structure variables determine the listed firms financial performance between 2015 and 2022. Secondary. Secondary data obtained from the financial statement of the companies listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange between 2015 and 2022 was used. The outputs of the research were offered utilizing tables and graphs within the scope of descriptive, correlation, and regression technique of analysis. The information was subjected to multicollinearity, autocorrelation, heteroskedasticity, stationarity, and Hausman tests to authenticate the outcomes of the regression. Notably from the output, board size was noted to be insignificantly affected inversely Kenyan listed commercial and service firms financial performance; board independence was considered by the output to be positive on the financial performance noting significance; board tenure was also revealed to have positive and yet insignificant on financial performance; while board age was negatively in a manner that is insignificantly affected performance financially. This study recommends that the country need to strengthen policies to improve firm-level corporate governance in order to bolster financial performance and attract such investors. The regulatory authorities in Kenya need to strengthen the independence of board of directors by making it mandatory upon firms to ensure that boards of directors have sizeable representation of outside directors, as is the practice in other countries, and since the evidence from this study suggest the need for this.
Description
A Research Project Submitted to the School of Business, Economics and Tourism in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Award of Degree of Master of Business Administration (Finance) of Kenyatta University, May 2024.
Supervisor
Moses Odhiambo Aluoch