The impact of corporate governance and political connections on information asymmetry at listed companies in Tehran Stock Exchange

The phenomenon of information asymmetry arises from the fact that investors make their financial decisions based on information provided by the management team of the company, while according to agency theory, there is a potential conflict between the interests of management and shareholders; Therefore, it can be argued that information asymmetry between the management group and shareholders is a fundamental issue for the capital market. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of corporate governance and political communication on information asymmetry in companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. The statistical population of this research includes 140 companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange during the period 2012 to 2018. To test the research hypotheses, multiple linear regression based on panel data has been used. Findings show that corporate governance has a negative and significant effect on information asymmetry. In fact, information quality asymmetry decreases as the quality of corporate governance increases. Findings showed that political communication has a positive and significant effect on information asymmetry. In other words, in companies whose managers have political relations, there is more information asymmetry. These results indicate the importance and effectiveness of corporate governance components and managers with political relationships on information asymmetry.