The Power of Professional Expertise: Unravelling the Boardroom Diversity Puzzle Through a Machine Learning Approach

The objective of this study is to analyze the impact of intellectual capital (IC) and its components on firm financial performance using data from Chinese agricultural listed companies during 2015–2020. The moderating role of board diversity in the relationship between IC and firm financial performance is also tested. The modified value-added intellectual coefficient (MVAIC) model is used to measure IC, and board diversity is measured by several indicators, such as diversity in gender, experience, professional background, and educational background. The results suggest that the overall IC and only one element (human capital) positively influence firm financial performance. Diversity in gender, professional background, and educational background positively moderate the relationship between IC and financial performance, while experience diversity has a negative moderating effect. Among IC components, experience diversity, and educational background diversity negatively moderate the relationship between human capital and financial performance. In addition, gender diversity and experience diversity have a negative moderating effect on the relationship between physical capital and financial performance, while professional background diversity and educational background diversity have a positive moderating effect. This study can provide some new insights for managers to devise strategies to improve IC performance and strengthen corporate governance in order to achieve sustainable development of the agricultural industry. It also can guide policymakers in making policies to improve IC efficiency and firm performance.

This paper investigates the determinants of board composition and its consequences on firm value in China by focusing on the impact of ultimate owner type and financial needs under the institution environment with government intervention and weak investor protection. We find that State‐Owned Enterprises (SOEs) are more likely to choose politically connected directors without professional backgrounds, but non‐SOEs are more likely to have independent directors, or politically connected directors with professional business backgrounds. Appointment of independent directors has no effect on firm value. Due to weak legal investor protection in China, a dominant shareholder can easily remove independent directors, as there is no mature market for directors. Politically connected directors without professional business backgrounds are negatively associated with a firm's value. Although such directors can help a company establish relationships with the government, their firms may suffer due to inferior professionalism.

Boardroom Gender Diversity and Performance of Listed Companies in Italy

Corporate governance issues have attracted a good deal of public interest because of their apparent importance for the economic health of corporations and society in general, especially after the plethora of corporate scams and debacles in recent times. Corporate governance issues flow from the concept of accountability and governance and assume greater significance and magnitude in the case of corporate form of organization where the ownership and management of organizations are distanced. And, it is in this context that the pivotal role played by the board of directors in maintaining an effective organization assumes much importance. A major part of the debate on corporate governance centres around board composition especially board size and independence. Various committees have mandated a minimum number of independent directors and have given guidelines on board composition. However, the relationship of board characteristics such as composition, size, and independence with performance has not yet been established. This paper addresses this question: Does the board size and independence really matter in terms of influencing firm's performance? The findings suggest that: There is an inverse association between board size and firm performance. Different proportions of board independence have dissimilar impact on firm performance. The impact of board independence on firm performance is more when the board independence is between 50 and 60 per cent. Smaller boards are more efficient than the larger ones, the board size limit of six suggested as the ideal. Independent directors have so far failed to perform their monitoring role effectively and improve the performance of the firm. The guidelines on corporate governance should take into account the ‘cross-board’ phenomenon while defining the criteria for eligibility for appointment as an independent director. Lack of training to function as independent directors and ignorance of the procedures, tasks, and responsibilities expected of them could be reasons for the independent directors' non-performance. A bad performance leads to an increase in board size, which in turn, hampers performance. Guidelines are provided for future studies to include different variables to see which board composition is suitable for different companies at different stages of life cycle.

This study explores the impact of board diversity on firm performance, with a focus on companies listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX). Board diversity is examined across various dimensions, including gender, age, ethnicity, and professional background, to understand its relationship with key performance indicators such as Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE). Using a quantitative research approach, the study analyzes data from 90 publicly listed firms, employing descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and multiple regression techniques. The findings reveal that the direct correlation between board diversity and financial performance, particularly in terms of ROA and ROE, is not statistically significant in the studied sample. Despite the lack of direct significance, the research underscores the nuanced and multifaceted role of diversity in corporate governance, suggesting that its impact may be more complex and influenced by various contextual factors. The study concludes by recommending that companies continue to enhance gender diversity, balance age structures, tailor professional backgrounds to industry needs, and manage board tenure effectively to optimize corporate governance and support sustainable growth.

In this work, a sample of firms listed on China's Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) is employed to investigate the impact of human capital and equity concentration on firm performance. It shows that entrepreneurs' education level, industry experience and technical professional background have a positive impact on firm performance. Moreover, the higher the equity concentration, the better a firm's performance. Entrepreneurs with rich industry experience and a technical professional background tend to collect and condense equity, thereby increasing equity concentration. These findings reveal the relationship between entrepreneurial human capital and ownership concentration and enrich research on firm performance.

Outside Directors, Politics, and Firm Performance

Based on the basic theory and research status, this paper studies the relationship between the background characteristics of senior managers and the firm performance in private listed companies with the theoretical and empirical research. The data of 486 private listed companies in 2008 is used as research sample; the results show that some of background characteristics of senior managers, such as age, educational background, professional background and tenure indeed affect the EVA of private listed companies.

This paper investigates and compares the characteristics of independent directors and supervisory board members in Chinese listed firms. The occupational backgrounds of independent directors and supervisory board members in listed firms are very different. Besides, different firms have different preferences in employing independent directors and supervisory board members according to their demands. Moreover, the empirical results show that characteristics of independent directors and supervisory board members have no clear relationship with firm performance. No matter their professional backgrounds or age, the independent directors and supervisory board members do not have the authority to affect the decision making process of management. Thus they cannot really contribute to firm performance.

The purpose of this study is to empirically and theoretically review the relationship between Corporate Governance (CG), risk management, and firm performance by suggesting future research agenda in this promising area. The study suggests the use ex-post facto research design to collect data on board characteristics (board size, board composition, board meeting, and board expertise), and quantitative content analysis to collect data on risk management disclosure from the annual reports and accounts of financial service firms quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The study also proposes the use of multivariate statistics in analyzing the data to be collected. Albeit, the study did not carry out any statistically analysis, yet, the review and theoretical evidences have shown that board characteristics (board size, board composition, board meeting, and board expertise) and risk management disclosure have positive relationship with firm performance. The outcomes from literature and theoretical review will be of paramount importance to the interest of firms that sought to know how board characteristics and risk management disclosure relate to their performance. This may in a long way aid them in making various business decisions.

Board Diversity, Composition and Firm Performance: Do Gender and Ethnic Diversity influence Firm Performance?

Several factors affect the firm performance of oil and gas firms due to their potential relevance to a company's profitability and sustainability. Renewable energy investment includes the factors that represent an enormous challenge to the oil and gas firm's survival. This study examines the moderating effect of board characteristics on the relationship between renewable energy investment and firm financial performance among oil and gas firms in sub-Saharan Africa. The sample population of fifty (50) oil and gas firms was selected using the purposive sampling method. Data were collected from secondary sources comprising an audited annual financial statement of sampled firms and the LSEG data stream. The period of the study was ten (10) years (2014–2023). Data were analysed using a linear multiple regression technique in the STATA software package. The result of the study reveals a significant negative effect of renewable energy investment on Return on Assets (ROA) and a significant positive effect on Net Profit Margin (NPM). Similarly, board independence and board tenure have an insignificant moderating effect on the relationship between renewable energy investment, ROA and NPM. While board expertise has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between renewable energy investment and NPM. Gender diversity has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between renewable energy investment and ROA of oil and firms of sub-Saharan Africa. The study concludes that while renewable energy investments temporarily decrease return on assets, it has a long-term profitability benefit, create value for investors’ confidence and firms’ sustainability among the oil and gas firms, especially when complemented by an effective corporate governance mechanism. Therefore, this study suggests for effective corporate governance compliance, specifically boards with expert members and more female directors are in better positioned to guide, evaluate and contribute to good oversight and innovative investment decisions in renewable energy, also a collaboration of oil and gas firms with governments, development banks and private investors to provide incentives in terms of concessional funds, subsidies and tax reliefs to encouraged the firms to invest more on renewable energy projects beyond the current average investment level to strengthen long-term competitiveness and resilience against oil price volatility and improved firm performance.

The major purpose of this paper was to identify and analyze the board size, board composition and firm performance for firms listed at Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) from 2004 to 2009. We used multiple regressions to examine the board characteristics and firm performance. Board characteristic variables includes board size, board composition for testing the hypotheses, required data, information collected from the annual reports of the official bulletins of Tehran stock exchange, market information, stock organization library and stock sites such as www.rdis.ir and www.irbourse.com. Based on a sample of 66 firms listed at Tehran stock exchange, during the period from 2004 to 2009, we found out that board size and board compositions are positively associated with firm performance. The results suggested that the impact of the board size on firm performance is more than theimpact of the board composition on firm performance. This research provided a good chance for examining the effect of board characteristics regarding firm performance. Meanwhile, it took into consideration if quarter firm size has any effect on firm performance or not. Key words: Corporate governance, firm performance, board size, firm size

Board Size, Board Composition, and Firm Performance: Empirical Evidence from Germany

This study examines if the CEO duality influence the firm economic performance in Bangladesh and the moderating effects of board composition in the form of outside independent directors. While doing so, it examines the relationship between CEO duality and firm performance during the pre appointment of outside independent directors and post appointment of outside independent directors (the role of other corporate governance mechanism as moderating variable). The finding is that there is there is a negative (non-significant) relationship between CEO duality and firm performance before appointment of outside independent directors in the board. However, independent leadership structure and firm performance is found to be positively related following the acquisition of resource (outside independent directors in the board) supporting the ’resource dependence theory’. The findings of this study partially support the ’agency theory’ and ’resource dependence theory’ but do not support the stewardship theory. This study contributes to the literature on CEO duality in the context of less a developed country.