Title: Board diversity and innovation performance in Malaysia

Authors: Akmalia M. Ariff; Zaizulhizma Salleh; Muhd Nur Haniff Mohd Noor; Nor Raihan Mohamad; Norsalasiah Ismail

Addresses: School of Maritime Business and Management, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia ' School of Maritime Business and Management, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia ' School of Maritime Business and Management, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia ' School of Maritime Business and Management, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia ' School of Maritime Business and Management, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia

Abstract: A board of directors consists of a set of key personnel that hold vital positions in a company. Based on the premise of the resource dependence theory, we explore the association between board diversity and innovation performance in Malaysia. The sample consists of 220 companies from the industrial product sector of the main market of Bursa Malaysia for the financial year 2013. Board diversity is represented by a comprehensive score that includes age, gender, ethnicity, nationality, education, tenure, area of experience and directorship in other companies. Results of the regression analysis show that there is a positive association between board diversity and innovation performance. Our findings contribute to the policy involving the diversity of corporate boards by suggesting that policy, such as one of gender diversity in Malaysia, is expanded to include multi-dimensional aspects of board diversity that better represent the economic, legal and cultural environment of a country.

Keywords: board diversity; innovation performance; INV; Malaysia.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBGE.2017.088247

International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, 2017 Vol.12 No.3, pp.241 - 261

Received: 22 Mar 2016
Accepted: 05 May 2017
Published online: 30 Nov 2017 *

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