Effect of Board Diversity on Organisation Performance, A Case of Kenya Ports Authority Mombasa, Kenya

Abstract

The global business landscape is increasingly becoming complex and unpredictable. For corporations to survive in these increasingly competitive markets, they have to be flexible and meet their customer requirements. It is on this basis that relation between strategic corporate governance and organisation performance has evoked much interest among scholars. This study investigated the impact of strategic corporate governance on organisation performance of Kenya Ports Authority in Mombasa Kenya. Specifically, the study investigated the effect of board diversity on the performance of KPA. The study adopted a cross-sectional descriptive survey design where 55 board of directors, general managers and head of division of KPA were targeted. The sample size was 48 and stratified sampling technique was employed to identify respondents that participated in the study. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect the data from the respondents. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the data using frequency tables, percentages, and measures of central tendency used included mode, median and mean. The inferential statistics used was multiple regression, which established whether there was a significant relationship between board size, board independence, board diversity and committee members’ competency on the performance of KPA. The data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software and presented using tables and figure. The study found that 59.8 per cent of the organisation performance at KPA could be attributed to strategic corporate governance. The study also found out that board diversity had a statistically significant impact on the organisation performance of KPA. This study recommends KPA to strive and incorporate board diversity Competency in its strategic corporate governance objectives if it were to enhance its performance.