Board Heterogeneity and Market Risk on the Financial Performance of Listed Conglomerate Businesses in Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the effect of board heterogeneity and market risk on the financial performance of listed conglomerate businesses in Nigeria. The study adopted a causal-comparative research design using secondary data obtained from the audited annual reports of the ten leading listed conglomerate businesses in Nigeria over the period 2015–2024. Panel data were analysed using descriptive statistics, diagnostic tests, and the Generalised Linear Model (GLM) at the 5 percent level of significance. The findings revealed that the nationality of board members had a positive but not statistically significant effect on financial performance (β = 0.0847, p = 0.7866), while equity price risk had a negative but not statistically significant effect on Earnings per Share (β = -0.0408, p = 0.5411). The study contributes to the corporate governance literature by integrating the Upper Echelons Theory and the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) to examine the combined influence of internal governance mechanisms and external market risk on financial performance.