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It is commonly stated that increased board diversity leads to the heightened financial performance of firms via the impact that it can have on innovation, but the latter association has, thus far, remained empirically controversial. The aim of this paper is to shed light on this unresolved debate and gap in the literature via studying different types of diversity.

A meta-analysis was conducted on the existing empirical evidence on the topic to show whether such an association exists and compare cognitive (expertise and experience) and demographic diversity (gender, nationality and racial/ethnic).

The results show that there is indeed a positive and statistically significant association between board diversity and firm innovation. This association is driven more by cognitive diversity of the board members than by demographic diversity.

Potential publication bias, heterogeneity in the quality of the existing studies and the diversity in operationalising innovation and board diversity remain as limitations to this meta-analysis.

Instead of focussing on selecting board members based on demographic (surface-level) diversity, selections should be based on the interplay of the experience, expertise and background demographic characteristics of the potential candidates. Otherwise, the minority members might face a “token” status.

The results of this paper suggest that there is a positive association between board diversity and firm innovation. Future research should examine why this link exists. Therefore, the paper concludes with a research agenda for the benefit of potential further studies.

The purpose of this paper is to create a research framework to scrutinize how individuals' digital technology use produces tangible and intangible outcomes in online (digital) and offline realms.

The paper applies the Bourdieusian e-capital perspective to create a theory-based framework. The framework was used to guide a survey design to explore women's “social media-assisted reuse” at the micro-scale in Helsinki, Finland.

The paper argues that a new form of capital emerges when individuals utilize digital technologies in correspondence to their goals to gain added value that would be impossible or significantly more arduous to gain without the digital realm. The survey indicates that the respondents utilize the digital space – set objectives and gain capital-related outcomes – in correspondence to their differing social, economic and cultural positions and related resources in- and outside of the digital realm.

If digital spaces – due to social inequality and underlying power structures – become increasingly stratified, there will be significant impacts on how individuals from differing backgrounds gain accumulated forms of capital through the digital realm. The question is of great importance for battling inequality.

The paper enhances and synthesizes recent discussions on different forms of capital and outcomes of the use of digital technologies and presents a combined “e-capital–digital divide” framework that offers a more complete agenda for investigating the finely nuanced links between the inputs, outputs and outcomes of digital technology use.