Board Diversity and Firm Performance: Examining the Impact of Age and Gender Diversity in a Developing Economy

Starting from the old monarchial period, the history, tradition, and culture of Vietnam already set an inferior position for women than that of men. Women was required to do the housework while men were supposed to take charge of “heavier” task, work that support the whole family financially. The unbalanced prejudice of the Vietnamese society continues as the society applies orders in terms of age: The old is naturally more respected by tradition than the young and experience is overwhelming the youth and creativity. The fact that these unbalanced prejudices lead to a barrier of involving women or youth in the roles of directors given chances they deserve, as brought to the business context of society, are potential factor to limit firm performance and societal growth in general. Studies indicated that as gender diversity is practiced in developed countries, it brings positive impact on firm performance. The matter, however, is barely touched in the weak corporate governance context of developing countries. This paper seeks to examine the impact of gender diversity in developing countries with the evidence from a typical country Vietnam. This paper also investigates a step further toward the impact of age diversity in developing countries, the matter that has even barely touched by previous studies, especially in the context of developed countries. By doing so, the paper contributes a view of gender and age diversity that could help improve the role of women and youth for better firm performance and societal growth in Vietnam.