The influence of demographic, cultural, and educational background in the boardroom on firm performance – The Croatian evidence

Abstract

This study investigates the demographic, cultural and educational features of management boards of Croatian manufacturers. The analysis, conducted using static panel analysis, encompasses the period from 2015 to 2019. To the impact of different board characteristics on firm performance expressed with accounting- oriented performance measures such as return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE), this study includes several explanatory variables comprising CEO tenure, age of the board members, the share of foreigners in the boardroom and finance educational background. Additionally, a few firm-specific variables included in the research are firm size, leverage, and firm age. The analysis findings reveal that board composition plays a crucial role when explaining the firm’s profitability. Furthermore, the firm’s maturity and leverage additionally prove to be significant factors affecting corporate performance.

Keywords

• demographic board diversity
• cultural board diversity
• firm performance
• croatian manufacturers