Age Diversity: An Empirical Study in the Board of Directors

This study aims to explore how board age diversity affects corporate performance. This study develops three hypotheses built on the perspective of the upper echelons and Harrison and Klein's (2007 Harrison, D. and K. Klein. “What's the Difference? Diversity Constructs as Separation, Variety, or Disparity in Organizations.” Academy of Management Review 32, no. 4 (2007): 1199–1228.Crossref], Web of Science ®] , Google Scholar]) diversity typology. Focusing on age diversity and using a board of directors as a unit of analysis, this study empirically tests the effects of each type of age diversity on corporate performance in a sample of European listed firms for the year 2009. This study advances the understanding of board behavior and its relationships with corporate results, and presents a new approach to study age diversity from an integrated point of view.