Enhancing shareholder value through corporate governance mechanism in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of corporate governance mechanism in relation to shareholder value in Saudi Arabia listed companies. In today's business, shareholder value has a great concern to the company shareholders. Numerous studies have been investigated shareholder value but with inconsistent empirical evidence. The focus of this research is to examine the impact of corporate governance mechanism (board independence) on shareholder value measured by share price and dividend yield. This is an empirical paper which proposes to determine the extent of board independence on shareholder value in the perspective of Saudi Arabia. The current study employed pooling regression analysis to retailing sector companies in Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) from 2010 to 2019. The research has found that the presence of non-executive directors on the corporate board enhanced shareholder value. Likewise, board independence has a significant positive impact on shareholder value. The proposed study has value for Saudi Arabia government, corporate boards, stock exchange, shareholders, and policy makers by highlighting the distinct impact on shareholder value and its relation on board independence.