The effect of culture on Corporate Governance Practices in Nigeria

This study focuses on the effect of culture on the application of corporate governance practices in Nigeria. Corporate governance has been receiving serious attention in emerging markets over the past two decades. But relatively little attention has been given to the study on corporate governance in a country study. The current situations in Nigerian public and private sectors such as the corporate scandal resulting from Lever Brothers Nigeria plc, Siemens, Shell, Halliburton, and Cadbury Nigeria plc, have shown that the issue of fraud, corruption, and corporate scandals cannot be overlooked. Most top management, as this study argues, bring in beliefs acquired from their early childhood into their senior management roles and responsibilities. This study adopts a grounded theory and reports on the effect of culture on the implementation of corporate governance in Nigeria. Based on the interview with 32 staffs, this study identifies the effect of culture that shapes corporate governance and they include abuse of power by top management, weak legal framework, poor recruitment and ineffective control. Although having efficient corporate governance is worth pursuing, this depends on the power of top management, the strength of internal control procedures and the legal framework put in place by management

Corporate governance and responsibility in Nigeria

To provide an expository on the peculiar dimension of the corporate governance and responsibility phenomenon in developing market economies, we employ a mix of qualitative methods to provide research evidence-based insights into the nature, practice, complexity and environment of governance and accountability in corporate Nigeria. We aim to contribute to the budding literature on corporate governance in sub-Saharan Africa, while providing recommendations for practitioners and policy makers in terms of promoting effective corporate governance in developing countries

Institutions and institutional maintenance: implications for understanding and theorizing corporate governance in developing economies

This study is a data-driven attempt to explain why corporate governance systems remain largely unchanged despite regulatory reforms, especially in developing economies. It employs a qualitative research method triangulation to provide an informative and comprehensive account of Nigerian corporate governance complexity. The findings show that national corporate governance systems are endogenous responses to certain institutional environments. They further show the emergence of institutional maintenance in the wider Nigerian business environment. Consequently, the analysis and discussions not only forward a theory of corporate governance in sub-Saharan Africa but also add to the literature on the institutional theory of corporate governance, particularly, to the burgeoning literature on institutional work

Development of Corporate Governance Regulations: The Case of an Emerging Economy

corporate governance, emerging economies, regulations, institutional theory,

The politics of shareholder activism in Nigeria

Shareholder activism has become a force for good in the extant corporate governance literature. In this article, we present a case study of Nigeria to show how shareholder activism, as a corporate governance mechanism, can constitute a space for unhealthy politics and turbulent politicking, which is a reflection of the country’s brand of politics. As a result, we point out some translational challenges, and suggest more caution, in the diffusion of corporate governance practices across different institutional environments. We contribute to the literature on corporate governance in Africa, whilst creating an understanding of the political embeddedness of shareholder activism in different institutional contexts—i.e. a step closer to a political theorising of shareholder activism

Neither Principles Nor Rules: Making Corporate Governance Work in Sub-Saharan Africa

Open Access articleCorporate governance is often split between rulebased and principle-based approaches to regulation in different institutional contexts. This split is often informed by the types of institutional configurations, their strengths, and the complementarities within them. This approach to corporate governance regulation is mostly discussed in the context of developed economies and their regulatory demands. However, in developing and weak market economies, such as in Sub-Saharan Africa, there is no such explicit split and the debates on such contexts in the comparative corporate governance literature have been meagre. Nonetheless, there are sparks of good corporate governance practices in the region. Drawing from institutional theory and a case study of a largest economy, we explore the appropriateness or suitability of corporate governance regulatory frameworks in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our findings suggest that Nigeria needs an integrated system that combines elements of both rule-based and principle- based regulation, supported by a multi-stakeholder coregulation strategy. This paper departs from the mainstream rule-based and principle-based categorisations by forging ahead new perspectives on corporate governance regulation, especially in weak market economies