Board Gender, Company Performance, Board Size and Monitoring Mechanisms in Non-Financial Listed Companies

The focus of many governments, academicians, regulatory bodies, and shareholders have been the cause of the economic meltdown with emphasis on monitoring mechanisms to reduce information asymmetry in public and private companies. In the light of this, this study examines the relationship between board gender, board size, company performance, and monitoring mechanisms ( directorship, internal and external auditing) in Nigerian non-financial listed companies. The study obtained data from annual reports and drew questionnaire on internal auditing as the information is not obtainable from the annual reports. The data are analyzed using Stata 12 application. The findings show that a woman director mediates the relationship between company performance and monitoring mechanisms as well as board size and monitoring mechanisms. This paper adds to the literature on company performance, board gender, board size, and complexity of monitoring mechanisms, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. It suggests policy implications to the regulatory agents and board of directors in respect of board diversity aligning the interests of the management and the shareholders of a company.