Does board of director’s age diversity affect financial performance in agricultural sector? - Evidence from an emerging country

This paper investigates if board of director's age diversity impact financial performance in the agricultural sector of an emerging economy. Although exploring the effect of board of director's age diversity on financial performance has been widely researched in the last years, this is the first study conducted in the agricultural sector, and the first study which explores the age effect on financial performance in the region of Eastern Europe as well. Our sample is consisting of all Serbian agriculture companies listed on the Belgrade Stock Exchange for the period of 2013-2016. We find that the average age of the board of director is 51 years, with the standard deviation of 7.14779. The average age of the chairman is also 51, but the standard deviation is vast higher (S-12.643). Return on capital employed (ROCE) and Return on equity (ROE) are used as indicators of financial performance. The profitability of the companies in the sample is very low. The average return on capital employed is 3,2%. We did not find evidence that board of director's age impact financial performance, as well as we did not find correlation between the chairman age and profitability. We also did not find evidence that board of director's age diversity has impact on financial performance. These results indicate that age factor should not be considered as important in board constitution in the agricultural sector of an emerging economy.