Factors influencing adoption and disclosure of voluntary corporate governance practices by the Indian listed firms

Abstract

This study is aimed at ascertainment of factors influencing adoption and disclosure of voluntary corporate governance practices (VCGP) of Indian listed firms. Results revealed that: a) there exists a large variation in VCGP across Indian firms; b) VCGP of Indian firms are significantly affected by their size, financial leverage, ownership concentration, industry type, the effectiveness of their audit committees, foreign listing status and type of external auditors. Further, this study confirmed: a) the substitution effect of 'Leverage' and 'Ownership Concentration' on adoption and disclosures of VCGP; b) the presence of interaction (interplay) between 'Leverage' and 'Ownership Concentration'. While firms with high and moderately diversified shareholding pattern depict substitution effect of leverage on adoption of VCGP, firms with highly concentrated shareholding pattern depict substitution effect of ownership concentration on adoption of VCGP.