Ownership structure and firm performance in the Middle East : a meta-analysis

This paper applies a meta-analysis method to investigate the moderating impact of political stability on the relationship between ownership identities and firm performance in the Middle Eastern countries (i.e., the Arab World). The study collected 105 correlations from 46 previous studies with 11,999 observations in 11 Middle Eastern countries. The findings show that most ownership identities such as institutional ownership, government ownership, inside ownership, and family ownership have positive relationship with firm performance. Another interesting finding shows that in countries with political instability, the level of ownership identities such as institutional ownership, foreign ownership, and inside ownership play an important role in controlling companies, which leads to firm performance. The meta-analysis results reveal that different levels of political stability have an impact on the role of the majority shareholders. The findings provide evidence that the performance of ownership identities in the Middle Eastern countries remains effective, especially with the existence of fair protection rights and political stability.