Board characteristics and bank performance: Evidence from selected African countries

Abstract

The study is aimed at examining board characteristics and bank performance evidence from selected African countries namely Tanzania, South Africa, Egypt, and Nigeria.26 banks with coverage of 10 years (2011-2020), were covered by the study. The study employed a purposive sampling technique to obtain the 26 banks listed in the Dar es Salam Stock Exchange (DSE), Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), Egypt Stock Exchange (EGX), and Nigeria Stock Exchange (NGX). Four countries were selected to represent the whole of Africa, whereby eastern Africa was represented by Tanzania, western Africa was represented by Nigeria, northern Africa was represented by Egypt and southern Africa was represented by South Africa. The results of the study show that gender diversity was statistically significant and had a negative impact on bank performance; skills diversity and independence diversity were found to be statistically significant and had a positive relationship with bank performance while nationality diversity and age diversity seemed to be statistically insignificant.