IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jmgtgv/v24y2020i2d10.1007_s10997-018-9446-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corporate governance and performance of microfinance institutions: recent global evidences

Author

Listed:
  • Namrata Gupta

    (University of Wollongong in Dubai)

  • Anita Mirchandani

    (AMITY University)

Abstract

Using a global data set of 456 MFIs, this study investigates whether a MFI’s ownership structure and corporate governance influences its social performance. An attempt has been made to analyze the impact of ownership structure of MFIs on its social performance, taking five indicators into consideration. The study is based on secondary data which are obtained from rating reports from the five micro lender rating agencies: MicroRate, Microfinanza, Planet Rating, Crisil and M-Cril etc. The hypotheses are tested by performing an unpaired sample t test to investigate the statistical significant difference between the two types of ownerships on social performance. The result shows that socially oriented MFIs (NGOs and cooperatives) have shown their stronger focus on social goals by having a higher percentage of female borrowers and a lower average loan size than commercially oriented MFIs (banks and NBFIs), which indicates the importance of ownership type for social performance of MFIs. The findings of this study can lead to important contributions that provide better understanding of the role of ownership structure as well as corporate governance in the MFIs’ performance. MFIs have mostly been evaluated on their financial performance and there are very limited number of previous academic studies on ownership structure in the microfinance sector and its impact on MFIs mission of social impact. This study aims to cover this gap in the literature by making a cross-country study of examining the influence of ownership structure on the social performance of MFIs.

Suggested Citation

  • Namrata Gupta & Anita Mirchandani, 2020. "Corporate governance and performance of microfinance institutions: recent global evidences," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 24(2), pages 307-326, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:jmgtgv:v:24:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1007_s10997-018-9446-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10997-018-9446-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10997-018-9446-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10997-018-9446-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joanna Ledgerwood & Victoria White, 2006. "Transforming Microfinance Institutions : Providing Full Financial Services to the Poor," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7086.
    2. Valnek, Tomas, 1999. "The comparative performance of mutual building societies and stock retail banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 925-938, June.
    3. Julian Schmied, 2014. "Financial performance and social goals of microfinance institutions," Potsdam Economic Papers 02, Universität Potsdam, Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    4. Mersland, Roy & Randøy, Trond & Strøm, Reidar Øystein, 2011. "The impact of international influence on microbanks' performance: A global survey," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 163-176, April.
    5. Hartarska, Valentina M., 2005. "Governance and Performance of Microfinance Institutions in Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States," 2005 International Congress, August 23-27, 2005, Copenhagen, Denmark 24568, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    6. Popli, Manish & Ladkani, Radha M. & Gaur, Ajai S., 2017. "Business group affiliation and post-acquisition performance: An extended resource-based view," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 21-30.
    7. Serrano-Cinca, Carlos & Gutiérrez-Nieto, Begoña, 2014. "Microfinance, the long tail and mission drift," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 181-194.
    8. Hartarska, Valentina, 2005. "Governance and performance of microfinance institutions in Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 1627-1643, October.
    9. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    10. Valentina Hartarska & Denis Nadolnyak, 2007. "Do regulated microfinance institutions achieve better sustainability and outreach? Cross-country evidence," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(10), pages 1207-1222.
    11. Tchakoute-Tchuigoua, Hubert, 2010. "Is there a difference in performance by the legal status of microfinance institutions?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 436-442, November.
    12. Périlleux, Anaïs & Szafarz, Ariane, 2015. "Women Leaders and Social Performance: Evidence from Financial Cooperatives in Senegal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 437-452.
    13. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December.
    14. James R. Barth & Chen Lin & Clas Wihlborg (ed.), 2012. "Research Handbook on International Banking and Governance," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14045.
    15. repec:idb:brikps:78868 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Robert Cull & Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Jonathan Morduch, 2009. "Microfinance Meets the Market," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(1), pages 167-192, Winter.
    17. Marguerite S. Robinson, 2001. "The Microfinance Revolution," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 28956.
    18. Beatriz Armendáriz & Ariane Szafarz, 2011. "On Mission Drift in Microfinance Institutions," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Beatriz Armendáriz & Marc Labie (ed.), The Handbook Of Microfinance, chapter 16, pages 341-366, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    19. Mamiza Haq & Michael Skully & Shams Pathan, 2010. "Efficiency of Microfinance Institutions: A Data Envelopment Analysis," Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Springer;Japanese Association of Financial Economics and Engineering, vol. 17(1), pages 63-97, March.
    20. Daniel Hardy & Paul Holden & Vassili Prokopenko, 2003. "Microfinance institutions and public policy," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(3), pages 147-158.
    21. Anthony Kyereboah-Coleman, 2007. "The impact of capital structure on the performance of microfinance institutions," Journal of Risk Finance, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 8(1), pages 56-71, January.
    22. Valentina Hartarska & Roy Mersland, 2012. "Which Governance Mechanisms Promote Efficiency in Reaching Poor Clients? Evidence from Rated Microfinance Institutions," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 18(2), pages 218-239, March.
    23. Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1990. "Peer Monitoring and Credit Markets," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 4(3), pages 351-366, September.
    24. Robert Cull & Asli Demirguç-Kunt & Jonathan Morduch, 2007. "Financial performance and outreach: a global analysis of leading microbanks," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(517), pages 107-133, February.
    25. Edith Ginglinger & Jean-Francois L'her, 2006. "Ownership structure and open market stock repurchases in France," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1), pages 77-94.
    26. Hermes, Niels & Lensink, Robert & Meesters, Aljar, 2011. "Outreach and Efficiency of Microfinance Institutions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 938-948, June.
    27. Ajai Gaur & Andrew Delios, 2015. "International Diversification of Emerging Market Firms: The Role of Ownership Structure and Group Affiliation," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 235-253, April.
    28. Rients Galema & Robert Lensink & Roy Mersland, 2012. "Do Powerful CEOs Determine Microfinance Performance?," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(4), pages 718-742, June.
    29. Shakil Quayes, 2012. "Depth of outreach and financial sustainability of microfinance institutions," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(26), pages 3421-3433, September.
    30. Niels Hermes & Robert Lensink, 2007. "The empirics of microfinance: what do we know?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(517), pages 1-10, February.
    31. Servin, Roselia & Lensink, Robert & van den Berg, Marrit, 2012. "Ownership and technical efficiency of microfinance institutions: Empirical evidence from Latin America," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 2136-2144.
    32. Fama, Eugene F & Jensen, Michael C, 1983. "Separation of Ownership and Control," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 301-325, June.
    33. Lee, Ji-Hwan & Gaur, Ajai S., 2013. "Managing multi-business firms: A comparison between Korean chaebols and diversified U.S. firms," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 443-454.
    34. Bert D'espallier & Isabelle Guerin & Roy Mersland, 2013. "Focus on Women in Microfinance Institutions," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(5), pages 589-608, May.
    35. Mersland, Roy & Øystein Strøm, R., 2009. "Performance and governance in microfinance institutions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 662-669, April.
    36. Mersland, Roy, 2009. "The Cost of Ownership in Microfinance Organizations," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 469-478, February.
    37. Martin Desrochers & Klaus P. Fischer, 2005. "The Power of Networks: Integration and Financial Cooperative Performance," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(3), pages 307-354, September.
    38. repec:dau:papers:123456789/399 is not listed on IDEAS
    39. Sanju Adhikary & George Papachristou, 2014. "Is there a trade-off between financial performance and outreach in south asian Microfinance institutions?," Journal of Developing Areas, Tennessee State University, College of Business, vol. 48(4), pages 381-402, October-D.
    40. Contractor, Farok & Yang, Yong & Gaur, Ajai S., 2016. "Firm-specific intangible assets and subsidiary profitability: The moderating role of distance, ownership strategy and subsidiary experience," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(6), pages 950-964.
    41. B Gutiérrez-Nieto & C Serrano-Cinca & C Mar Molinero, 2009. "Social efficiency in microfinance institutions," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 60(1), pages 104-119, January.
    42. Brigit Helms, 2006. "Access for All : Building Inclusive Financial Systems," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6973.
    43. Beatriz Armendáriz de Aghion & Jonathan Morduch, 2000. "Microfinance Beyond Group Lending," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 8(2), pages 401-420, July.
    44. Gaur, Ajai S. & Kumar, Vikas & Singh, Deeksha, 2014. "Institutions, resources, and internationalization of emerging economy firms," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 12-20.
    45. Bogan, Vicki, 2008. "Microfinance Institutions: Does Capital Structure Matter?," Working Papers 51125, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    46. Amit Bubna & Bhagwan Chowdhry, 2010. "Franchising Microfinance," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 14(3), pages 451-476.
    47. Roy Mersland & Reidar Øystein Strøm, 2008. "Performance and trade-offs in Microfinance Organisations-does ownership matter?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(5), pages 598-612.
    48. Jean-Noël Ory & Mireille Jaeger & Emmanuelle Gurtner, 2006. "La banque à forme coopérative peut-elle soutenir durablement la compétition avec la banque SA?," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 9(2), pages 121-157, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Eline Auwera & Bert D’Espallier & Roy Mersland, 2024. "Achieving Double Bottom-Line Performance in Hybrid Organisations: A Machine-Learning Approach," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 190(3), pages 625-647, March.
    2. Fall, François Seck & Tchakoute Tchuigoua, Hubert & Vanhems, Anne & Simar, Léopold, 2022. "Investigating the unobserved heterogeneity effect on microfinance social efficiency," LIDAM Discussion Papers ISBA 2022010, Université catholique de Louvain, Institute of Statistics, Biostatistics and Actuarial Sciences (ISBA).
    3. Md Aslam Mia & Lucia Dalla Pellegrina & Wai‐Yan Wong, 2022. "Female participation and financial performance of microfinance institutions: Evidence from transition economies," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 40(5), September.
    4. Pompei MITITEAN, 2023. "The Relationship Between Corporate Governance Mechanisms and Financial Institution Performance. A COVID-19 Perspective," CECCAR Business Review, Body of Expert and Licensed Accountants of Romania (CECCAR), vol. 3(12), pages 55-65, December .
    5. Kwame Ohene Djan & Roy Mersland, 2022. "Are NGOs and cooperatives similar or different? A global survey using microfinance data," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 26(2), pages 641-683, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Niels Hermes & Marek Hudon, 2018. "Determinants Of The Performance Of Microfinance Institutions: A Systematic Review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(5), pages 1483-1513, December.
    2. Hermes, Cornelis & Hudon, M., 2018. "Determinants of the Performance of Microfinance Institutions: A Systematic Review," Research Report 2018008, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    3. Ahmad Nawaz & Sana Iqbal & Sadaf Ehsan, 2018. "Does Social Performance Drive Corporate Governance Mechanism In Case of Asian MFIs? An Issue of Endogeneity," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 19(4), pages 988-1012, August.
    4. Kwame Ohene Djan & Roy Mersland, 2022. "Are NGOs and cooperatives similar or different? A global survey using microfinance data," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 26(2), pages 641-683, June.
    5. Nawaz, Ahmad & Iqbal, Sana, 2015. "Does Social Performance Drives Corporate Governance Mechanism in MFIs? An Issue of Endogeneity," MPRA Paper 65312, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Hubert Tchakoute Tchuigoua, 2010. "Forme juridique et performances des institutions de microfinance," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 13(3), pages 39-60., September.
    7. Beisland, Leif Atle & Mersland, Roy & Randøy, Trond, 2014. "The Association between microfinance rating scores and corporate governance: a global survey," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 268-280.
    8. Bibi, Uzma & Balli, Hatice Ozer & Matthews, Claire D. & Tripe, David W.L., 2018. "New approaches to measure the social performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs)," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 88-97.
    9. Nawaz, Ahmad & Iqbal, Sana, 2015. "Financial Performance And Corporate Governance In Microfinance: Who Drives Who? An Evidence From Asia," MPRA Paper 65327, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Gutiérrez-Nieto, Begoña & Serrano-Cinca, Carlos, 2019. "20 years of research in microfinance: An information management approach," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 183-197.
    11. Simon Cornée & Gervais Thenet, 2016. "Efficience des institutions de microfinance en Bolivie et au Pérou:une approche data envelopment analysis en deux étapes," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 19(1), pages 65-91, March.
    12. Karel Janda & Pavel Zetek, 2015. "Mikrofinanční revoluce: kontroverze a výzvy [Microfinance Revolution: Controversies and Challenges]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2015(1), pages 108-130.
    13. Tchakoute-Tchuigoua, Hubert, 2010. "Is there a difference in performance by the legal status of microfinance institutions?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 436-442, November.
    14. Iqbal, Sana & Nawaz, Ahmad & Ehsan, Sadaf, 2019. "Financial performance and corporate governance in microfinance: Evidence from Asia," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1-13.
    15. Janda, Karel & Zetek, Pavel, 2014. "Mikrofinanční Revoluce: Aktuální Kontroverze A Výzvy [Microfinance Revolution: Recent Controversies And Challenges]," MPRA Paper 54098, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Janda, Karel & Zetek, Pavel, 2014. "Survey of Microfinance Controversies and Challenges," MPRA Paper 56657, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Barry, Thierno Amadou & Tacneng, Ruth, 2014. "The Impact of Governance and Institutional Quality on MFI Outreach and Financial Performance in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1-20.
    18. Md. Ali Rasel & Sandar Win, 2020. "Microfinance governance: a systematic review and future research directions," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 47(7), pages 1811-1847, April.
    19. Biswajit Ghose & S. Joplinshisha Paliar & Liha Mena, 2018. "Does Legal Status Affect Performance of Microfinance Institutions?: Empirical Evidence from India," Vision, , vol. 22(3), pages 316-328, September.
    20. Hudon, Marek & Périlleux, Anaïs, 2014. "Surplus distribution and characteristics of social enterprises: Evidence from microfinance," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 147-157.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jmgtgv:v:24:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1007_s10997-018-9446-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.