The Effect of Corporate Governance, Profitability, and Firm Size on Firm Value with the Intervention of Intellectual Capital

The purpose of the present study is to present some evidence about the impact of corporate governance, profitability, and firm size on firm value and also determine the intervening role of intellectual capital in this relationship. To substantiate the research objectives, Tobin’s Q index was used to measure firm value. Also, some other indices such as the size and independence of board of directors as well as the presence of women among them were used as variables of corporate governance. Indices of return on asset, return on equity, and return on sales were used as profitability variables. Firm size variable was also included in the model by the natural logarithm of all assets, sales, and market value. Finally, the efficiency of intellectual, structural, and human capital was used as variables for intellectual capital. By structural equation modeling, the research hypotheses were tested through a sample consisting of 142 companies accepted in Tehran Stock Exchange from 2012 to 2020. The obtained results indicate that corporate governance had no significant impact on intellectual capital and firm value. Moreover, the effect of profitability on intellectual capital and firm value was confirmed. Firm size also had a significant impact on firm value but its effect on intellectual capital was not confirmed. Finally, the results showed that the intervention of intellectual capital is not acceptable in the impact of corporate governance, profitability, and firm size on firm value. Firm size is a reflection of corporate total assets. It is effective on investors’ expectation of corporate dividends and as a result of increase in demand, the corporations will be able to increase the price of their shares in the market. In corporations under study in this research, physical assets and capital have a basic role to determine firm value and therefore, intellectual capital has been neglected. Suitable corporate governance can facilitate attraction of intellectual capital and since it is a source of knowledge in terms of invisible assets, it can improve firm value, too. Yet, it has a relatively less significant importance compared to physical capital to determine firm size and value.