Level Of Education, Gender Diversity And Reits Performance

Purpose – The purpose relationship between the level of education, gender diversity and Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) financial performance. Design/methodology/approach – The authors employ ordinary least square regressions on an unbalanced panel of South African REITs for the time period from 2013 to 2021. The paper adopted returns on asset (ROA) as the measure of performance; this was regressed alongside control variables that indicates that REIT promotes diversity in management. Findings – The results indicate that REITs that promote the appointment this paper is to examine the ent of board directors with higher educational qualifications have higher financial performance than comparable counterparts. We also find evidence of an insignificant relationship between gender diversity and REITs financial performance; meanwhile, we found a significant relationship between female directors' level of education and REITs performance. Practical implications – The analysis indicates that while gender diversity may be insignificant, higher educational qualifications among male and female directors has to be more attractive among REITs for their positive financial results. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the literature by investing whether the level of education and gender diversity have an impact on REIT financial performance.