Relating firm performance to corporate governance characteristics: A research perspective on the publicly listed information technology companies in Australia

Abstract

The objective of this research is to relate company performance (in terms of different measures) tocorporate governance characteristics (like board size, internal or external majority governance) for thepublicly listed information technology (IT) companies in Australia. A sample of 55 such companies areconsidered. Results reveal that, contrary to the popular belief in respect to positive influence ofexternal board members, performance of the IT companies tend to worse with higher degree of boardindependence. We attribute the characteristics of these outcomes to the dynamic properties of the ITindustrial sector in Australia. Linear regression models relating the performance measures to boardcharacteristics along with other financial information have also been developed. The number of seniormanagement members has been identified as the key board characteristic factor in these models,implying the importance of major internal control over highly independent board for the publiclylisted Australian IT companies.