Menozzi, AnnaFraquelli, GiovanniNovara, Jolanda de2015-04-222015-04-222015-04-22Menozzi, Anna; Fraquelli, Giovanni; Novara, Jolanda de. Board diversity in family firms. [2013?]https://hdl.handle.net/10016/20470The paper deals with diversity as a key factor to improve the board of directors’ decision process in family firms. The empirical literature about board diversity points at the positive impact of diversity on board functioning and firm performance. The paper uses a statistical diversity index to capture the heterogeneity of board of directors and put it in relation with firm performance, as measured by firm profitability. The empirical analysis is based on a newly collected panel of 327 family firms including data on their board of directors during the period 2003-2007. We find that firm performance is positively related to a global measure of board diversity. In particular, the presence of gender diversity and a good mix of executive and non-executive managers show the strongest econometric significance, suggesting that diversity is an important factor to improve board decisions.application/pdfengAtribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 EspañaDiversityBoard compositionFamily firmsworking paperEmpresaopen access122