Corporate governance: mapping the change

Purpose This paper aims to explore the relationship of corporate governance attributes with cost of capital and firm performance. This paper also tries to find some widely discussed corporate governance attributes that hold importance in Indian context. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on literature survey of 241 research papers, both conceptual and empirical, which covers literature published over a period of three decades, ranging from 1986 to 2016. The literature includes those papers that studied the relation of corporate governance with cost of capital and firm performance, also it includes those research papers which discuss the evolution and development of corporate governance as a concept. Findings This study finds that the idea of corporate governance has shifted from the protection of shareholders’ rights to a firm’s need for survival. There is a dearth of literature studying the relation between corporate governance and cost of capital in India. It is observed that cost of capital is a better measure than Tobin’s q in Indian context. Research limitations/implications This paper mainly focuses on themes like cost of capital and firm performance therefore, some other firm-related measures which are also influenced by corporate governance may have been ignored. Originality/value This study enhances the literature on corporate governance especially in Indian context. Empirically testing the framework developed in this study will help in identifying the significance of various corporate governance attributes in Indian context.