Challenges in the Measuring of Comparative Corporate Governance: A Review of the Main Indices

Abstract

This paper discusses the role that indices of corporate governance have had in comparative corporate governance research. To do so, we begin with a short discussion of what corporate governance is and its main debates. Then, we review the main indices (which are also summarized in Table 1) highlighting their strengths and limitations as well as describing some of the findings that emanate from them. In section 3, we discuss the methodological and conceptual assumptions of corporate governance indices which may compromise their construct validity. We conclude in section 4 with some encouraging suggestions for key methodological and research design issues to take into account in future comparative corporate governance.