*3.3.1.2 Independent variables*

• Board of directors

The board of directors is an important internal mechanism in business that contributes to the control of management. In this sense, several authors consider that a large board strengthens its ability to control and improve its information sources. In this context, several studies found that companies with a large board of directors are realizing better performance (Daily and Dalton) [34]. Hence, we set the following assumption:

H1: The impact of the board is positive on the stock market volatility

• Institutional investors

Institutional investors have an active role in corporate governance. In this sense, Pound [35] pointed out that institutional shareholders are better equipped regarding knowledge and monitoring of professional skills than individual shareholder. In this way, the agency problems can be reduced. Current research also supports the monitoring mechanism on the part of institutional investors [36, 37]. Moreover, institutional control also plays an important role in the company's performance. Cornett et al. [38] reported that institutional investors have a positive influence on the performance of a company. Sias and Starks [39] found that higher institutional shareholdings would have a positive impact on stock prices. On the other hand, Dennis et al. [40] showed that abnormal stock returns during periods of high market volatility linked to the percentage of institutional ownership could be used to predict abnormal stock returns during the liquidity crisis. Beber et al. [41] found that institutional ownership affects liquidity. To do this, we put forward the following hypothesis:

H2: The impact of institutional investors is negative on the stock market volatility
