Stability in the Boardroom: Decoding
Attendance Drivers for Independent and Executive Directors in India
Srikanth Potharla*
PUBLISHED :13 FEB 2025
Abstract
Understanding board dynamics is essential in the rapidly evolving corporate governance landscape, particularly in emerging markets like India. The Board Attendance Consistency Indicator (BACI), reflecting director commitment and governance quality, plays a central role in this study. Analyzing attendance across independent (BACI_IND) and executive directors (BACI_ED), this research draws on 3,742 listed companies, with 17,071 firm- year observations from 2010 to 2022. Employing panel data regression addresses endogeneity through lagged variables, while robustness is tested using Heteroskedasticity Consistent Standard Errors (HCSE) and industry-fixed effects. Findings show that higher board independence negatively affects attendance consistency for independent directors but positively impacts executive directors, who may attend more consistently to safeguard managerial interests. Larger boards show reduced attendance, underscoring coordination challenges, while institutional ownership strengthens BACI, highlighting the role of institutional oversight. These insights validate the relationships between board structure, ownership, and attendance, contributing to governance practices.
Key Words
Board attendance consistency, Board independence, Corporate governance, Emerging markets, Institutional ownership
Author Biography
Srikanth Potharla*
Assistant Professor, Department of Finance and Accounting, ICFAI Business School (IBS), A Constituent of IFHE, Deemed to Be University, Hyderabad, Telangana, India. E-mail:
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