Governance and Performance in Insurance Companies: A Bibliometric Analysis and A Meta-Analysis

This paper provides a review of theoretical contributions and empirical studies on the external and internal
mechanisms of corporate governance of insurance companies and their effects on performance and/or risk.
Thanks to the analysis of the studies published between 1985 and 2019 through bibliometric tools, we are able to
illustrate the networks of scientific collaborations (co authorship) and relationships between the most use d terms,
also highlighting the most significant groups of scholars and research strands. Additionally, the paper carries out
a meta analysis of around thirty quantitative articles that show a relationship between the quantitative qualitative
characteristic s of the Board of Directors and the performance of the insurance company. The empirical studies
show a consensus on the positive contribution of board size and the presence of independent directors on
performance. Moreover, insurance research networks do n ot appear to be very interconnected, especially as
regards to emerging markets. The paper also provides a useful starting point for future research aimed at defining
the specificities of the governance performance relationship of insurance companies within an evolving
regulatory and market framework.