The advantages of board diversity: an empirical analysis on the Italian market

The study analyzes the relationship between the board diversity and some profiles of the operating performance of BoD.The research is based on a sample of 237 Italian listed firms during the period 2007-2009.The results show a positive relationship between the monitoring activity and the presence of women on BoD and an inverse relationship between the number of board meetings and the presence of foreign directors. With regard to audit committee, the results underline a direct relationship between the frequency of the audit committee meetings and the presence of female directors