CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND FIRM PROFITABILITY IN AGRICULTURAL SECTOR: EVIDENCE FROM ASIAN COUNTRIES.

The objective of this research is to determine the relationship between corporate governance practices and firm profitability for the companies in agricultural sector of Asian countries for the period of 2008 to 2017 as agriculture is one of the most important sectors in these economies. The results demonstrate that the variables of board independence, ownership concentration, audit committee independence, leverage and sales growth have significant positive relationship with return on assets (ROA), whereas, the variables of quality of corporate governance, board size, CEO duality and firm size have significant negative association with return on assets (ROA). Moreover, the endogeneity of the board structure variable was investigated by applying the Two Stage Least Squares (2SLS) regression model. The results of the 2SLS regression model depicts that variables of board independence, audit committee independence and sales growth have significant positive association with return on assets (ROA), whereas, the variables of quality of corporate governance, leverage and firm size have significant negative relationship with return on assets (ROA). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]