Structural Diversity in Boards of Directors and Firm Performance: Analysis of Boards in the Republic of Serbia

Abstract The contribution of board diversification to corporate financial performance has piqued the interest of numerous researchers and regulators in recent decades. In this context, this paper aims to establish whether there is a connection between the board of directors attributes and the financial performance of the company. Using the Independent Samples T-test, we tested the relationship between board attributes, such as the representation of women, average age and size of the board, on the one hand, and financial performance expressed through ROA and ROS, on the other hand, on a sample of 97 joint-stock companies operating in the Republic of Serbia. The results we reached are, first, companies with a larger board do not have better financial performance compared to companies with a smaller board. Second, companies with an older board achieve better financial performance compared to companies with a younger board. And third, companies with one or more women on the board do not perform better financially than companies without women on the board.