Abstract:
This study analyses the correlation between Board attributes and firm performance in
a sample of 100 Australian and 100 Sri Lankan firms to analyse. The board attributes
analysed are size; gender ratio; non-independent-to-total members; and experience.
The level of economic development is considered as an overlaying potential
confounding effect on the outcomes. The analysis and a visual inspection of the raw
data suggest that: Australian Boards are much larger than Sri Lankan Boards; in both
nations, Boards are male dominated; and while board structure provides predictive
insight into firm performance, only a few individual attributes are significant. The most
important finding of this research is that the larger Boards of Australia appear to have
a significantly stronger influence on firm performance than the relatively smaller boards
of Sri Lanka. Future research should extend the review of the effects of Board size on
corporate performance.
