IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/applec/v49y2017i48p4817-4832.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Board diversity and firm performance: evidence from the U.K. SMEs

Author

Listed:
  • Nermeen Shehata
  • Ahmed Salhin
  • Moataz El-Helaly

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between board diversity and firm performance in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the U.K. In particular, we investigate the role of gender and age as two dimensions of diversity. Using a large sample of SMEs (34,798 firms) located in the U.K. and focusing on the period from 2005 to 2013, our results show a significant negative association between each of gender diversity and age diversity, and firm performance. Our evidence yields important insights on the association between board diversity and firm performance, and calls suggestions for increased board diversity into question. A possible explanation for our findings could be due to the fact that our sampled firms are SMEs, whereas those in previous studies have been large enterprises. This research provides insights to entrepreneurs on how to enhance their performance, and to governments and policymakers on the development of rules that would achieve better performance in the SME sector.

Suggested Citation

  • Nermeen Shehata & Ahmed Salhin & Moataz El-Helaly, 2017. "Board diversity and firm performance: evidence from the U.K. SMEs," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(48), pages 4817-4832, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:49:y:2017:i:48:p:4817-4832
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2017.1293796
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00036846.2017.1293796
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00036846.2017.1293796?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kevin Campbell & Antonio Mínguez-Vera, 2008. "Gender Diversity in the Boardroom and Firm Financial Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 83(3), pages 435-451, December.
    2. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    3. Vincent L. Barker , III & George C. Mueller, 2002. "CEO Characteristics and Firm R&D Spending," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(6), pages 782-801, June.
    4. Larelle Chapple & Jacquelyn Humphrey, 2014. "Does Board Gender Diversity Have a Financial Impact? Evidence Using Stock Portfolio Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 122(4), pages 709-723, July.
    5. Alan I. Murray, 1989. "Top management group heterogeneity and firm performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(S1), pages 125-141, June.
    6. Breusch, Trevor & Ward, Michael B. & Nguyen, Hoa Thi Minh & Kompas, Tom, 2011. "On the Fixed-Effects Vector Decomposition," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(2), pages 123-134, April.
    7. Nina Smith & Valdemar Smith & Mette Verner, 2006. "Do women in top management affect firm performance?A panel study of 2,500 Danish firms," International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 55(7), pages 569-593, October.
    8. 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.
    9. Plümper, Thomas & Troeger, Vera E., 2007. "Efficient Estimation of Time-Invariant and Rarely Changing Variables in Finite Sample Panel Analyses with Unit Fixed Effects," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(2), pages 124-139, April.
    10. Jyoti Mahadeo & Teerooven Soobaroyen & Vanisha Hanuman, 2012. "Board Composition and Financial Performance: Uncovering the Effects of Diversity in an Emerging Economy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 105(3), pages 375-388, February.
    11. David A. Carter & Betty J. Simkins & W. Gary Simpson, 2003. "Corporate Governance, Board Diversity, and Firm Value," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 38(1), pages 33-53, February.
    12. John A. Pearce & Shaker A. Zahra, 1992. "Board Composition From A Strategic Contingency Perspective," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 411-438, July.
    13. Muhammad Ali & Yin Ng & Carol Kulik, 2014. "Board Age and Gender Diversity: A Test of Competing Linear and Curvilinear Predictions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(3), pages 497-512, December.
    14. Mareva Sabatier, 2015. "A women's boom in the boardroom: effects on performance?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(26), pages 2717-2727, June.
    15. Cheng, Eugene C.M. & Courtenay, Stephen M., 2006. "Response to discussion of "board composition, regulatory regime and voluntary disclosure"," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 293-294.
    16. Cheng, Eugene C.M. & Courtenay, Stephen M., 2006. "Board composition, regulatory regime and voluntary disclosure," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 262-289.
    17. Low, Daniel C.M. & Roberts, Helen & Whiting, Rosalind H., 2015. "Board gender diversity and firm performance: Empirical evidence from Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 35(PA), pages 381-401.
    18. Kenneth R. Ahern & Amy K. Dittmar, 2012. "The Changing of the Boards: The Impact on Firm Valuation of Mandated Female Board Representation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(1), pages 137-197.
    19. Plümper, Thomas & Troeger, Vera E., 2011. "Fixed-Effects Vector Decomposition: Properties, Reliability, and Instruments," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(2), pages 147-164, April.
    20. William S. Schulze & Michael H. Lubatkin & Richard N. Dino & Ann K. Buchholtz, 2001. "Agency Relationships in Family Firms: Theory and Evidence," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(2), pages 99-116, April.
    21. Caspar Rose, 2007. "Does female board representation influence firm performance? The Danish evidence," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(2), pages 404-413, March.
    22. Alvaro Cuervo, 2002. "Corporate Governance Mechanisms: a plea for less code of good governance and more market control," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(2), pages 84-93, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Elliroma Gardiner, 2024. "What’s age got to do with it? The effect of board member age diversity: a systematic review," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 74(1), pages 65-92, February.
    2. Cecília Carmo & Sandra Alves & Bruna Quaresma, 2022. "Women on Boards in Portuguese Listed Companies: Does Gender Diversity Influence Financial Performance?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-21, May.
    3. Gema Gutierrez-Romero & Antonio Blanco-Oliver & Mª Teresa Montero-Romero & Mariano Carbonero-Ruz, 2021. "The Impact of CEOs’ Gender on Organisational Efficiency in the Public Sector: Evidence from the English NHS," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-15, February.
    4. Abtahi, Zahra & Chkir, Imed & Benkraiem, Ramzi, 2023. "Board diversity and corporate innovation: New evidence from the Canadian context," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PA).
    5. Nitesh Pandey & Satish Kumar & Corinne Post & John W. Goodell & Rebeca García-Ramos, 2023. "Board gender diversity and firm performance: A complexity theory perspective," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 1289-1320, September.
    6. Ozcan Isik & Umit Firat Tasgin, 2017. "Profitability and Its Determinants in Turkish Manufacturing Industry: Evidence from a Dynamic Panel Model," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 9(8), pages 66-75, August.
    7. Koray Aktaş & Valeria Gattai & Piergiovanna Natale, 2023. "Board gender quotas and outward foreign direct investment: Evidence from France," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(4), pages 1291-1321, November.
    8. Zaid Saidat & Claire Seaman & Mauricio Silva & Lara Al-Haddad & Zyad Marashdeh, 2020. "Female Directors, Family Ownership and Firm Performance in Jordan," International Journal of Financial Research, International Journal of Financial Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 11(1), pages 206-219, January.
    9. 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.
    10. Charl de Villiers & Ruth Dimes, 2021. "Determinants, mechanisms and consequences of corporate governance reporting: a research framework," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 25(1), pages 7-26, March.
    11. María Consuelo Pucheta-Martínez & Isabel Gallego-Álvarez, 2020. "Do board characteristics drive firm performance? An international perspective," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 14(6), pages 1251-1297, December.
    12. Ahmed Ayman & Moataz El-Helaly & Nermeen Shehata, 2019. "Board diversity and earnings news dissemination on Twitter in the UK," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 23(3), pages 715-734, September.
    13. Kent Baker, H. & Pandey, Nitesh & Kumar, Satish & Haldar, Arunima, 2020. "A bibliometric analysis of board diversity: Current status, development, and future research directions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 232-246.
    14. Oliver Lukason & María-del-Mar Camacho-Miñano, 2020. "Corporate Governance Characteristics of Private SMEs’ Annual Report Submission Violations," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-19, September.
    15. 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).
    16. Shweta Mehrotra & Birajit Mohanty & Tanushree Sharma, 2023. "Do Board Quality and Promoters’ Holdings Affect Firm Performance? Evidence from Small and Medium-sized Enterprises," FIIB Business Review, , vol. 12(1), pages 100-108, March.
    17. Timinepere Ogele COURT & Agu Okoro AGU, 2023. "Human Capital Diversity And Performance Consequences: A Firm Level Analysis Of Sub-Saharan Africa," Management Research and Practice, Research Centre in Public Administration and Public Services, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 15(1), pages 50-62, March.
    18. , Aisdl, 2021. "The Impact of CEOs’ Gender on Organisational Efficiency in the Public Sector: Evidence from the English NHS," OSF Preprints mhcxv, Center for Open Science.
    19. Luiz Eduardo Gaio & Angela Christina Lucas & Johan Hendrik Poker Junior & Marcio Marcelo Belli, 2024. "Gender diversity in management and corporate financial performance: A systematic literature review," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(5), pages 4047-4067, September.
    20. Constantine Iliopoulos & Rando Värnik & Taavi Kiisk & George Varthalamis & Liis Sinnott, 2022. "Governance in Estonian Agricultural Cooperatives: Structures and Processes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-24, November.
    21. Rachel Bocquet & Christian Le Bas & Caroline Danièle Mothe & Nicolas Poussing, 2019. "Strategic CSR for innovation in SMEs: Does diversity matter?," Post-Print hal-02380559, HAL.

    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. Laura Cabeza-García & Esther B. Brío & Carlos Rueda, 2021. "The moderating effect of innovation on the gender and performance relationship in the outset of the gender revolution," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 755-778, April.
    2. Naeem Tabassum & Satwinder Singh, 2020. "Corporate Governance and Organisational Performance," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-030-48527-6, January.
    3. Adeel Mustafa & Abubakr Saeed & Muhammad Awais & Shahab Aziz, 2020. "Board-Gender Diversity, Family Ownership, and Dividend Announcement: Evidence from Asian Emerging Economies," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-20, March.
    4. Bedelev, Bogdan, 2023. "The more, the better? Diversification Trends in Executive and Supervisory Boards in Germany and their Potential Effects," Junior Management Science (JUMS), Junior Management Science e. V., vol. 8(3), pages 569-590.
    5. Um‐E‐Roman Fayyaz & Raja Nabeel‐Ud‐Din Jalal & Michelina Venditti & Antonio Minguez‐Vera, 2023. "Diverse boards and firm performance: The role of environmental, social and governance disclosure," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 1457-1472, May.
    6. Mauro Romano & Alessandro Cirillo & Christian Favino & Antonio Netti, 2020. "ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) Performance and Board Gender Diversity: The Moderating Role of CEO Duality," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-16, November.
    7. Sanjukta Brahma & Chioma Nwafor & Agyenim Boateng, 2021. "Board gender diversity and firm performance: The UK evidence," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 5704-5719, October.
    8. Viput Ongsakul & Anutchanat Jaroenjitrkam & Sirimon Treepongkaruna & Pornsit Jiraporn, 2022. "Does board gender diversity reduce ‘CEO luck’?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(1), pages 243-260, March.
    9. Nooraisah Katmon & Zam Zuriyati Mohamad & Norlia Mat Norwani & Omar Al Farooque, 2019. "Comprehensive Board Diversity and Quality of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure: Evidence from an Emerging Market," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(2), pages 447-481, June.
    10. Jasmin Joecks & Kerstin Pull & Karin Vetter, 2013. "Gender Diversity in the Boardroom and Firm Performance: What Exactly Constitutes a “Critical Mass?”," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(1), pages 61-72, November.
    11. Benkraiem, Ramzi & Boubaker, Sabri & Brinette, Souad & Khemiri, Sabrina, 2021. "Board feminization and innovation through corporate venture capital investments: The moderating effects of independence and management skills," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    12. Sultan Sikandar Mirza & Muhammad Ansar Majeed & Tanveer Ahsan, 2020. "Board gender diversity, competitive pressure and investment efficiency in Chinese private firms," Post-Print hal-02956320, HAL.
    13. Daunfeldt, Sven-Olov & Rudholm, Niklas, 2012. "Does Gender Diversity in the Boardroom Improve Firm Performance?," HUI Working Papers 60, HUI Research.
    14. Maria Lucas-Pérez & Antonio Mínguez-Vera & Juan Baixauli-Soler & Juan Martín-Ugedo & Gregorio Sánchez-Marín, 2015. "Women on the Board and Managers’ Pay: Evidence from Spain," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 129(2), pages 265-280, June.
    15. Andre Havrylyshyn & Donald J. Schepker & Anthony J. Nyberg, 2023. "In the Club? How Categorization and Contact Impact the Board Gender Diversity-Firm Performance Relationship," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 184(2), pages 353-374, May.
    16. Paul B. McGuinness & João Paulo Vieito & Mingzhu Wang, 2020. "Proactive government intervention, board gender balance, and stakeholder engagement in China and Europe," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 719-762, September.
    17. Paul B. McGuinness, 2018. "IPO Firm Performance and Its Link with Board Officer Gender, Family-Ties and Other Demographics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(2), pages 499-521, October.
    18. Yunyi Li & Charl de Villiers & Lina Zixuan Li & Leye Li, 2022. "The moderating effect of board gender diversity on the relation between corporate social responsibility and firm value," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 109-143, March.
    19. Bennouri, Moez & Chtioui, Tawhid & Nagati, Haithem & Nekhili, Mehdi, 2018. "Female board directorship and firm performance: What really matters?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 267-291.
    20. Strøm, Reidar Øystein & D’Espallier, Bert & Mersland, Roy, 2014. "Female leadership, performance, and governance in microfinance institutions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 60-75.

    More about this item

    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:taf:applec:v:49:y:2017:i:48:p:4817-4832. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RAEC20 .

    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.