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Although the literature on corporate governance and firm innovation finds that board independence is important, this paper proposes that the presence of independent directors alone is not enough to explain their impact on firm innovation. This study analyses if diversity among independent directors may affect the relationship between board independence and firm innovation.

A panel data on a sample of 124 Spanish listed companies for the period 2008–2019 used to test the hypotheses.

Results suggest that independent directors have a negative effect on firm innovation, measured as number of patents, but when there are high levels of gender and nationality diversity among such directors, this negative effect may be mitigated.

Considering that firm innovation is a complex process associated with decision-making and that board independence itself may be not enough, this study goes a step further and delves deeper into the characteristics of independent directors. As far as is known, this paper is the first theoretical and empirical study that considers that independent director diversity as a moderating variable between board independence and firm innovation. Besides, this research contributes to the debate on the role of independent directors in firm innovation and the results may also serve as a guideline for policy makers and firms for structuring boards that are pro-innovation.

The empirical study aims to examine the impact of board diversity with respect to gender and nationality on firm performance in an emerging economy. This research further splits the sample into family and non-family domains and investigates the diversity–performance nexus in isolation.

The sample consists of 183 listed companies in Bangladesh over the period 2007 to 2017. This study employed the generalised method of moments (GMM) technique to address the possible endogeneity issue in the governance–performance connection. To underscore the strength of diversity, three distinctive assessment measures were used: percentage representation of females and foreign directors, the Blau index and the Shannon index.

The results for the full sample models reveal that board heterogeneity regarding both female and foreign directors positively and significantly influences firm performance as measured by return on assets (ROA). Further to this, female directors in family-owned businesses have a positive association with profitability, whereas foreign nationals demonstrate a significant positive association with performance in non-family firms. Additionally, at least three women directors are needed to make a positive difference in profitability; however, a sole director with foreign nationality is capable of demonstrating a similar impact on performance.

The findings are significant for policymakers and organisations that advocate diversity on corporate boards of directors, and the minimum number of diverse board members needs to be considered depending on the identity to bring about a significant change in organisational outcome. Therefore, the findings of this study may be applied to other emerging economies with similar institutional characteristics.

This study reinforces the existing stock of knowledge on the impact of board diversity on the profitability of firms, especially in the context of an emerging economy – Bangladesh. Irrespective of the given backdrop, this study finds that both gender and nationality diversity in the case of Bangladesh is found to have a positive and significant effect on financial performance with respect to all the diversity metrics, i.e. the proportionate number of female and foreign directors on the boards, the Blau index and the Shannon index.

Ownership structure plays a significant role in determining board demographic diversity. However, it is still unclear how different ownership configurations impact the structures of firm's boards and how board diversity influences firm performance. This study aims to investigate the relationship between family ownership and board diversity. Therefore, in this study, the authors argue that family firms have a lower level of board demographic diversity (in terms of age, gender and nationality) than non-family firms and that board diversity moderates the relationship between ownership and firm performance.

To test the authors’ hypotheses, we draw data from a sample of 341 German family and non-family firms for a period of five years.

The results show that family firms are less diverse in terms of age, gender and nationality diversity than non-family firms.

This study contributes to the general understanding of family firms and in particular the role ownership plays in shaping board demographic diversity.

The purpose of this article was to investigate the employee perceptions of diversity management and employee performance. To achieve this, employee respondents’ perceptions and perspectives have been tested, and findings are discussed.

To address this study's purpose, survey data were collected from 250 employees of two organizations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Data were analyzed by age, gender and nationality for two variables: diversity management and employee performance.

Results showed that respondents perceived an improvement in employee performance when diversity was managed for employees of different age groups, females/males working together and a workplace composed of employees from various nationalities.

The implication of this limited study is that further studies on the perception of diversity management for employee performance in the Middle East region needs to be conducted. The social implication is that organizational leaders can initiate diversity management to improve employee performance. The research is limited by the geographical context and access to the collection of data during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The implication of this limited study is that further studies on the perception of diversity management for employee performance in the Middle East region needs to be conducted. The social implication is that organizational leaders can initiate diversity management to improve employee performance.

The contribution to academic knowledge from this research is two-fold: findings from a novel study conducted in the Middle East evidenced diversity management improved perceptions of employee performance. The value of the study for praxis is to incorporate employees' belief in diversity management for its potential to improve employee performance.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how chief executive officer (CEO) characteristics, including age, education, nationality and particularly gender, influence firm performance in a developing Southeast Asian Country (Indonesia).

The study uses balanced firm-level panel data for 203 nonfinancial companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange from 2010 to 2020. Return on assets, return on equity and Tobin’s Q were used to measure firm performance. The data were analyzed using panel data regression analysis, including a fixed effects model with clustered standard errors.

The results indicate that female CEOs, education and nationality enhance firm performance, while CEO age can either improve or reduce firm performance. Numerous robustness checks were performed; the results were consistent with those in the main analysis.

Individual characteristics should be considered when appointing CEOs. Some CEO characteristics enhance firm performance. Female CEOs bring new perspectives, while older CEOs’ longer experience adds a competitive advantage. More educated CEOs have a better ability to deal with challenging intellectual activities, and CEOs from foreign countries better understand international market regulations. However, some characteristics may reduce firm performance, for example, older CEOs are more conservative and unable to adapt to changing business environments.

This study contributes to corporate governance studies by synthesizing CEO characteristics and investigating their relationship with firm performance. Moreover, it emphasizes that developing countries such as Indonesia have different economic, legal, social and cultural environments than developed countries, especially Western countries.

The study hypothesized that the impact of board diversity on financial distress (FD) is not direct but rather mediated by the firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of CSR as a mediator in the board diversity–FD relationship.

The study examined six board diversity dimensions – age, gender, nationality, education and tenure in 81 nonfinancial Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX)-listed firms from 2010 to 2021. The CSR engagement of the sample firms is evaluated using a multidimensional financial approach and the likelihood of FD is computed using Altman’s Z-score. The system-generalized method of moments estimator is used to meet the study objectives. In addition, several tests are run to determine the robustness of the study’s findings.

Based on the procedure for mediation analysis outlined by Baron and Kenny (1986), the authors found that CSR is significantly inversely associated with the likelihood of FD. Second, board diversity variables age, gender and national diversity were positively associated with CSR. Third, board age, gender and national diversity are significantly inversely related to FD. Finally, it was found that there is partial mediation between board age diversity and FD, whereas full mediation is shown between board age diversity and FD and between board nationality diversity and FD.

This study provides practical insights into PSX’s board diversity for companies, regulators and policymakers.

This research studies the connection between board diversity and FD. In addition, the current study extended the analysis by testing for the first time the mediating role of CSR in the diversity–distress relationship, particularly in the context of an emerging economy.

This study aims to examine diversity in the composition of Shariah supervisory boards (SSBs) of Islamic banks (IBs). It investigates diversity from two perspectives: existing composition of SSBs and the regulatory frameworks and standards of selected Organisation of Islamic Cooperation countries. Diversity characteristics include education, nationality, gender and age.

A list of all full-fledged Islamic commercial banks (FFICBs) globally has been carefully prepared and confirmed. Conventional banks with Islamic windows, non-commercial banks, takaful companies and other Islamic financial institutions are excluded. The available profiles of 428 SSB members have been scrutinised and analysed. These board members occupy 522 SSB positions in 238 FFICBs operating in 52 countries around the globe. From the regulatory perspective, 12 national and international Shariah governance frameworks and standards have been examined.

Findings of this paper indicate various levels of diversity in SSBs of the reviewed IBs. The level of diversity in educational background and in the nationality of SSBs can be described as generally acceptable. However, a lack of diversity in gender and age among SSB members is evidently observed in IBs. While the lack of age diversity in SSBs may be relatively justified as a common trend in the composition of corporate boards, SSBs of IBs are seriously lagging behind in gender diversity. On the regulatory level, this study concluded that provisions on diversity as a requirement in SSBs are almost non-existent in the existing regulatory frameworks and standards.

The major limitation of this study is the lack of available information on the SSB members.

This paper provides insights for IBs and policymakers concerned with the corporate governance of IBs and all Islamic financial institutions. First, it offers an excellent bird’s-eye view of the status of diversity in SSBs of IBs. Second, it motivates policymakers and standard-setting bodies to ensure, through the relevant regulatory frameworks, adequate levels of diversity in the composition of SSBs. Diversity in SSBs of IBs and Islamic financial institutions should be given special emphasis, not only in boards and top management positions but also in the workplace. This is of profound significance to the reputation of Islamic finance industry which has been recently under mounting pressure to translate the rhetoric about the Islamic finance industry being ethical, fair, just, equitable and inclusive into genuine implementations.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to examine the diversity of SSB members from the regulatory as well as from the implementation perspective.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between board gender diversity and private firm performance.

The authors test the association between board gender diversity and private firm performance by estimating pooled multivariate regressions using an unbalanced panel data set of 115,253 firm-year observations.

The authors find that younger, less busy and local women directors enhance private firm performance. Firms with 40% or more women directors report triple the economic benefits compared to boards with at least 20% women directors. Considering firm size, women directors significantly increase small firm profitability, and the effect is more pronounced for high-risk firms. Greater board gender diversity enhances small firm performance as the monitoring role of women directors benefits the firm even in the presence of busy men directors. Consistent with the agency theory framework, the authors find that women directors improve small firm profitability in the presence of agency costs.

Due to the lack of availability of data about private firms, many factors are not directly observable. The analysis uses accounting-based performance measures that may be subject to managerial discretion. Nevertheless, the authors report highly significant results using cash-based performance measures that substantiate the overall findings.

The results of the present study point to the need for private firms to increase board gender diversity and consider women director busyness, age, nationality and firm size when making board director appointments.

This study adds to the scarce existent literature investigating private firms. The results contribute to the understanding of gender-diverse boards as well as the attributes of women directors that enhance private firm performance.

This study aims to investigate the impact of extensive board diversity on firm performance from the perspective of resource-based view (RBV) theory in the context of Pakistan.

The analyses are made using a panel random-effects model and generalized method of moment (GMM) across 188 non-financial firms listed in the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) over the period of 2009–2020. The robustness of findings is checked through alternative measurements of the variables and alternative estimation techniques.

The results show that board members' nationality, ethnicity and educational level diversities are significantly positively related to firm performance. In contrast, age and educational background diversities negatively affect firm performance. However, gender and tenure diversities have an insignificant relationship with firm performance.

This study is conducted in the context of Pakistani firms; thus, the findings may not be generalizable to other economies because different economies have different institutional settings and governance structures.

The policy-makers should encourage the inclusion of board members' nationality, ethnicity and educational level diversities having relevant educational backgrounds to improve firms' competitive performance. The suggested structure of the corporate board may improve firm performance by attracting multiple stakeholders and fulfilling their expectations.

The appointment of a director should be based on merit rather than on political connections or personnel relationships to improve social welfare and avoid their negative impact on firm competitive performance.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the impact of board diversity on firm accounting-based performance and market-based performance in the emerging economy of Pakistan. This study uses RBV theory to provide a unique corporate governance structure based on board diversity, particularly in Pakistan.

The purpose of this study is to report empirical research on gender managerial obstacles in UAE private organizations. It identifies the barriers that limit opportunities for gender equality promotion in managerial level positions.

Primary data were gathered from 384 female managers operating in UAE organizations using Survey Monkey and ANOVA for statistical analysis. Two variables (years of experience and industry) were used to compare the average means across the responses and the differences among the group.

The situation of gender equality in UAE management currently shows a positive trend. The females who participated in the survey have considerable work experience and jobs in a vital economic sector of the UAE industry. The earlier cultural stereotypes that worked against the interests of women in the UAE society are no longer relevant except for informal barriers and the level of cooperation among female leaders. We found differences among industry, service and transportation sectors in which gender managerial level in a private industry is dependent upon the number of years of experience for female managers.

The limitation of the study is the online survey was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic during the lockdown period in the spring of 2020, which led to a low number of participants responding to the questionnaire. Additionally, the survey did not include a nationality question to distinguish Emiratis from non-Emirati.

This study indicates a need to coordinate UAE female leaders' actions to protect their rights, develop formal and informal mechanisms of gender inequality realization in business and promote professional skills, orientation on social networks, and mentoring programs for female leaders. These initiatives improve the positions of female leaders.

The study of the UAE case adds to the existing literature on gender studies because the survey-based research in the UAE context contributes to the limited knowledge of Middle Eastern countries. The females’ employment and their representation in managerial levels remain lower compared to males. Differences exist among the industry, service and transportation sectors.