Corporate Board Diversity in Malaysia: A Longitudinal Analysis of Gender and Nationality Diversity

Dalilawati Zainal (), Norhayah Zulkifli () and Zakiah Saleh ()
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Dalilawati Zainal: University of Malaya
Norhayah Zulkifli: University of Malaya
Zakiah Saleh: University of Malaya

International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, 2013, vol. 3, issue 1, 136-148

Abstract: This study examines the trend of gender and nationality diversity of corporate board in top 300 Malaysian public listed firms over a five-year period from year 2005 to 2009. It also identifies any significant difference in characteristics of firms with women and foreign directors and those without women and foreign directors. Based on the secondary data derived from firms’ annual report, a longitudinal descriptive analysis on the trend of board diversity is presented. Mann-Whitney U test is conducted to identify several characteristics that differentiate between firms with women and foreign directors and those without women and foreign directors. This study found little change in the presence of women directors and foreign directors over the five-year period, which reflects a slow progress in board diversity in Malaysia. Other than that, several characteristics that differentiate between firms with women and foreign directors and those without women and foreign directors were highlighted. Overall, this study indicates the need for more efforts to encourage board diversity in Malaysia. It shed some light on board diversity issue from a developing country’s perspective, particularly Malaysia. With the unique corporate ownership structure that is different from the developed countries, Malaysia provides an interesting avenue for research.

Keywords: Corporate governance; boards of directors; diversity; nationality; gender (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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