CORPORATE GOVERNANCE PRACTICES AND ORGANISATIONAL RESILIENCE: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF SELECTED BANKS IN NIGERIA

This study examined the relationship between corporate governance practices and organisational resilience among selected deposit money banks in Nigeria. Specifically, the study evaluated the individual and joint effects of three key governance components (board independence, transparency and disclosure, and audit committee effectiveness) on organisational resilience. Adopting a cross-sectional survey research design, primary data were collected via a validated and structured five-point Likert scale questionnaire administered to middle-level and senior-level employees across six purposively selected banks. Out of 359 distributed questionnaires, 255 valid responses were retrieved and processed using SPSS. Reliability tests confirmed the internal consistency of the measurement scales, with all Cronbach's alpha coefficients exceeding the 0.70 threshold. Bivariate analysis using Pearson Product-Moment Correlation revealed that all three corporate governance dimensions share positive and statistically significant relationships with organisational resilience. Multiple regression analysis further indicated that the combined corporate governance parameters significantly predict resilience, jointly accounting for 32.30% of its total variance (R2 = 0.323, F(3, 251) = 39.993, p < 0.001). Individually, board independence emerged as the strongest localized predictor (β = 0.292), followed closely by audit committee effectiveness (β = 0.287) and transparency and disclosure (β = 0.202). Grounded in Agency Theory, this study concludes that internal governance mechanisms serve as active, strategic meta-capabilities rather than passive regulatory compliance items. Based on these empirical insights, it is recommended that banking authorities strictly enforce the selection criteria for objective non-executive directors, continuously eliminate information asymmetry through detailed financial reporting disclosures, and aggressively upskill audit committee members to optimize proactive risk assessment.