IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vrs/ecothe/v62y2024i4p561-585n1008.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Structural Diversity in Boards of Directors and Firm Performance: Analysis of Boards in the Republic of Serbia

Author

Listed:
  • Dogandžić Petar

    (PhD student, Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade, Republic of Serbia)

  • Dogandžić Anja

    (PhD student, Faculty of Economics, University of Priština, Republic of Serbia)

Abstract

The contribution of board diversification to corporate financial performance has piqued the interest of numerous researchers and regulators in recent decades. In this context, this paper aims to establish whether there is a connection between the board of directors attributes and the financial performance of the company. Using the Independent Samples T-test, we tested the relationship between board attributes, such as the representation of women, average age and size of the board, on the one hand, and financial performance expressed through ROA and ROS, on the other hand, on a sample of 97 joint-stock companies operating in the Republic of Serbia. The results we reached are, first, companies with a larger board do not have better financial performance compared to companies with a smaller board. Second, companies with an older board achieve better financial performance compared to companies with a younger board. And third, companies with one or more women on the board do not perform better financially than companies without women on the board.

Suggested Citation

  • Dogandžić Petar & Dogandžić Anja, 2024. "Structural Diversity in Boards of Directors and Firm Performance: Analysis of Boards in the Republic of Serbia," Economic Themes, Sciendo, vol. 62(4), pages 561-585.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:ecothe:v:62:y:2024:i:4:p:561-585:n:1008
    DOI: 10.2478/ethemes-2024-0030
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.2478/ethemes-2024-0030
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2478/ethemes-2024-0030?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Francis, Bill & Hasan, Iftekhar & Wu, Qiang, 2012. "Do corporate boards affect firm performance? New evidence from the financial crisis," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 11/2012, Bank of Finland.
    2. Al-Faryan, Mamdouh Abdulaziz Saleh, 2021. "The Effect of Board Composition and Managerial Pay on Saudi Firm Performance," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue Online fi.
    3. Nadeem, Muhammad & Suleman, Tahir & Ahmed, Ammad, 2019. "Women on boards, firm risk and the profitability nexus: Does gender diversity moderate the risk and return relationship?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 427-442.
    4. Green, Colin P. & Homroy, Swarnodeep, 2018. "Female directors, board committees and firm performance," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 19-38.
    5. Stavros E. Arvanitis & Evangelos G. Varouchas & George M. Agiomirgianakis, 2022. "Does Board Gender Diversity Really Improve Firm Performance? Evidence from Greek Listed Firms," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-19, July.
    6. Bernile, Gennaro & Bhagwat, Vineet & Yonker, Scott, 2018. "Board diversity, firm risk, and corporate policies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(3), pages 588-612.
    7. Paul Guest, 2009. "The impact of board size on firm performance: evidence from the UK," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 385-404.
    8. O. J. Ilaboya & O. Obaretin, 2015. "Board Characteristics and Firm Performance: Evidence from Nigerian Quoted Companies," Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Richtmann Publishing Ltd, vol. 4, March.
    9. Moncef Guizani & Gaafar Abdalkrim, 2021. "Board gender diversity, financial decisions and free cash flow: empirical evidence from Malaysia," Management Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 45(2), pages 198-216, August.
    10. Adams, Renée B. & Ferreira, Daniel, 2009. "Women in the boardroom and their impact on governance and performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 291-309, November.
    11. Talavera, Oleksandr & Yin, Shuxing & Zhang, Mao, 2018. "Age diversity, directors' personal values, and bank performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 60-79.
    12. Aruoriwo Marian Chijoke-Mgbame & Agyenim Boateng & Chijoke Oscar Mgbame, 2020. "Board gender diversity, audit committee and financial performance: evidence from Nigeria," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(3), pages 262-286, July.
    13. Linda H. Chen & Jeffrey Gramlich & Kimberly A. Houser, 2019. "The effects of board gender diversity on a firm's risk strategies," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 59(2), pages 991-1031, June.
    14. Maretno Harjoto & Indrarini Laksmana & Robert Lee, 2015. "Board Diversity and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(4), pages 641-660, December.
    15. Eric M. Bosire & Vincent O. Ongore, 2015. "Effects of Board Composition on Financial Performance: Empirical Analysis of Companies Listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 5(1), pages 23-43.
    16. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2012_011 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Moncef Guizani & Gaafar Abdalkrim, 2021. "Board gender diversity, financial decisions and free cash flow: empirical evidence from Malaysia," Management Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 45(2), pages 198-216, August.
    18. Yu-Hui Wang, 2020. "Does Board Gender Diversity Bring Better Financial and Governance Performances? An Empirical Investigation of Cases in Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-10, April.
    19. Francis, Bill & Hasan, Iftekhar & Wu, Qiang, 2012. "Do corporate boards affect firm performance? : New evidence from the financial crisis," Research Discussion Papers 11/2012, Bank of Finland.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maria Fátima Ribeiro Borges & Graça Maria do Carmo Azevedo & Jonas Oliveira, 2025. "Literature review on gender diversity in top management teams of companies and its relationship with firm performance and audit quality," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(1), pages 177-201, March.
    2. Tanveer Bagh & Muhammad Asif Khan & Natanya Meyer & Hammad Riaz, 2023. "Impact of boardroom diversity on corporate financial performance," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    3. Beatrice Sarpong‐Danquah & Michael Adusei & Joseph Magnus Frimpong, 2023. "Effect of board gender diversity on the financial performance of microfinance institutions: Does judicial efficiency matter?," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(2), pages 495-518, June.
    4. Sattar, Mahnoor & Biswas, Pallab Kumar & Roberts, Helen, 2022. "Board gender diversity and firm risk in UK private firms," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    5. Huang, Yichu & Fang, Feifei & Fan, Yaoyao & Ly, Kim Cuong, 2024. "Do ‘Lehman Sisters’ work in China? Women on boards and bank risk," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    6. Simona Galletta & Sebastiano Mazzù & Valeria Naciti & Carlo Vermiglio, 2022. "Gender diversity and sustainability performance in the banking industry," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(1), pages 161-174, January.
    7. Shoukat Ali & Ramiz ur Rehman & Wang Yuan & Muhammad Ishfaq Ahmad & Rizwan Ali, 2022. "Does foreign institutional ownership mediate the nexus between board diversity and the risk of financial distress? A case of an emerging economy of China," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 12(3), pages 553-581, September.
    8. Aggarwal, Raj & Jindal, Varun & Seth, Rama, 2019. "Board diversity and firm performance: The role of business group affiliation," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 1-1.
    9. Ali Shariff Kabara & Saleh F. A. Khatib & Ayman Hassan Bazhair & Hamid Ghazi H Sulimany, 2022. "The Effect of the Board’s Educational and Gender Diversity on the Firms’ Performance: Evidence from Non-Financial Firms in Developing Country," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-15, September.
    10. Olga Dodd & Bart Frijns & Robin Kaiji Gong & Shushu Liao, 2024. "Board cultural diversity and firm performance under competitive pressures," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 59(1), pages 89-111, February.
    11. Elsayed, Mohamed & Elshandidy, Tamer & Ahmed, Yousry, 2022. "Corporate failure in the UK: An examination of corporate governance reforms," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    12. Grey, Colette & Flynn, Antoinette & Adu, Douglas A., 2024. "An examination of how executive remuneration and firm performance are influenced by Chair-CEO diversity attributes," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    13. Hernández-Atienza, Fernando & Rodríguez-Sanz, Juan Antonio & Tejerina-Gaite, Fernando, 2024. "The pathways of board diversity in European contexts: Exploring the influence of director types on firm performance," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(PA).
    14. Neji Al-Eid Omri & Abdulhameed Mohanna Alfaleh, 2024. "The effects of boardroom gender diversity on corporate performance: empirical evidence from a sample of European listed companies," Business Economics, Palgrave Macmillan;National Association for Business Economics, vol. 59(2), pages 86-100, April.
    15. Daniel Sungyeon Kim & Hong Kee Sul, 2021. "Diversity Matters: A Study on the Relationship between Board Career Diversity and Firm Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-24, August.
    16. Gattai, Valeria & Natale, Piergiovanna & Rossi, Francesca, 2023. "Board diversity and outward FDI: Evidence from europe," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    17. Mollah, Sabur & Liljeblom, Eva & Mobarek, Asma, 2021. "Heterogeneity in independent non-executive directors' attributes and risk-taking in large banks," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    18. Diamonalisa Sofianty & Etty Murwaningsari & Susi Dwi Mulyani, 2022. "Gender Diversity Effect on Tax Avoidance and Firm Risk," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 27(1), pages 463-480, January.
    19. Hunjra, Ahmed Imran & Jebabli, Ikram & Thrikawala, Sujani Sudhara & Alawi, Suha Mahmoud & Mehmood, Rashid, 2024. "How do corporate governance and corporate social responsibility affect credit risk?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(PA).
    20. McGuinness, Paul B., 2021. "Board member age, stock seasoning and the evolution of capital structure in Chinese firms," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(3).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:vrs:ecothe:v:62:y:2024:i:4:p:561-585:n:1008. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciendo.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.