Corporate Governance and Financial Performance of State-Owned Enterprises Compared to Listed Firms in Zambia: 2002-2017

The study was a comparative analysis of the corporate governance practices and firm financial performances between State-Owned Enterprises and listed firms in Zambia. Using a cross-sectional panel data set covering the period 2002 to 2017, the t-test statistic was employed to compare the corporate governance practices and firm financial performances between unlisted State-Owned Enterprises, listed State-Owned Enterprises and listed private firms. It was found that corparate governance practices and firm financial performances between State-Owned Enterprises and listed firms in Zambia were significantly different. The board sizes for listed firms were statistically significantly less than those of State-Owned Enterprises and the proportion of non-executive directors on the boards of listed firms were also statistically significantly less than those of State-Owned Enterprises. On the other hand the proportion of female directors on listed firms were statistically significantly more than those of unlisted State-Owned Enterprises. In terms of firm financial performance, it was found that the mean of the Return on Total Assets for listed private firms was statistically significantly greater than the mean for unlisted State-Owned Enterprises. There were significant effect sizes in all the measured variables. This was a country specific study that contributed to the empirical knowledge on corporate governance practices and financial performances in State-Owned Enterprises and listed firms. The findings are of interest to researchers, corporate governance practitioners and government policy makers.