Abstract:
Boards of Directors play a dominant governance role in organisations and (among
other things) seek to ensure that the managerial goals align with those of
shareholders and that ineffective management and/or processes do not proliferate. A
100-firms sample, randomly drawn from Colombo stock exchange, was analysed.
The results reveal that female board members in Sri Lankan firms averaged 14
percent and ranged from 0-38 percent. Findings also demonstrate that the two
performance ratios indicate that each three percent to the observed variability in
firm performance is explainable by the female board representation. The
significance levels show that both performance models generate statistically
insignificant outcomes. Undoubtedly, there is still a gender imbalance in the higher level governance positions Sri Lanka. Female board representation may be a
confounding factor that entangles and prevents the influence of board and company
attributes from becoming apparent.
