Zvinaiye Chimbadzwa

Board diversity is a topical discourse in firm governance and management. Diversity came up as a way of eliminating discrimination in employment and making sure there is equality, inclusion and affirmative action in the way firms do business. Board diversity has produced mixed results in relation to firm performance. On the one hand, diversity enables good governance to take place, ensures satisfaction of stakeholders and the firm to attain competitive advantage. Contrary, diversity may come with difficulties in communication, boardroom fights and decreased productivity among a plethora of negative contributions. The study investigates the various factors that affect board diversity from a Zimbabwean context. The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange’s 35 firms’ data is analysed to estimate the relationship between board diversity and firm performance. The study employed the quantitative methodology to establish factors that influence board diversity on firm performance of thirty-five (35) firms listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange using panel data collected over the period 2009 – 2015.The major factors that promote diversity are firm size, liquidity, leverage, operating experience (years listed), market share (Tobin’s Q) and being in the service sector. On the other hand, board size, being in the food, financial, real and industrial and manufacturing sectors negatively and significantly influence diversity. Based on the above results, the study recommends that companies should come up with diversity-enabling policies to enhance firm performance.