The effect of ownership on firm value: a meta-analysis

This paper focuses on the controversial relationship between ownership and value with the aim of synthesizing the main empirical literature and highlighting the source of heterogeneity among the studies. Through the use of meta-analysis, there emerges a prevalent positive effect of ownership concentration on firm value, and a non-monotonic effect between managerial ownership and firm value. As the main output of the paper, the use of meta-regressions allowed the identification of the variables that moderate the relationship between ownership and value, detecting their potential function in explaining the reasons of controversial outcomes in previous studies. These latter results offer a number of suggestions for further research and, hopefully, ideas for actions to improve corporate governance in the interests of stakeholders.