Corporate Structural Attributes and Sustainability Performance: The Moderating Role of Foreign Ownership in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper investigates the moderating role of foreign ownership on corporate structural attributes (such as company and company age) and sustainability performance of listed companies in Nigeria, the research design that characterized this study is the ex post facto research design and study is anchored on the philosophy of positivism. The data for this study were obtained from secondary sources, which were obtained from pthe annual reports of the sampled companies. The Panel Generalized Method of Moments (Panel GMM) regression technique was employed for data analysis, with foreign ownership introduced as a moderating variable. The findings reveal that company size and company age have significant and positive influence on sustainability performance. However, when moderated by foreign ownership, both variables exhibit significant but negative relationships with sustainability performance. The study concludes that foreign ownership plays a crucial role in shaping sustainability outcomes in emerging markets. The study therefore recommends among others that corporate boards should consider optimal ownership balance when pursuing sustainability objectives. 

Keywords:       Company size, Company age, foreign ownership, Sustainability performance.