Abstract

This study examines the association among board diversity, diversity policies, diversity performance, and firm value in ASEAN-5 listed companies: Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines. Board diversity is measured through gender diversity, national diversity, board-specific skills, and board affiliation, while diversity policy captures disclosed opportunity and diversity policy, diversity targets, and board diversity policy. Diversity performance is proxied by Refinitiv’s Diversity and Inclusion Rating score, and firm value is measured by price-to-book value. Using 77 firms and 154 firm-year observations from 2022 to 2023, the study applies descriptive analysis, ANOVA, observed-variable SEM-path analysis, regression robustness checks, alternative PBV specifications, PROCESS bootstrapped mediation, and Bayesian path analysis. The results suggest that national diversity, board affiliation, and diversity policy are positively associated with diversity performance, while diversity performance is positively associated with firm value. Diversity policy and diversity performance provide the most stable evidence across specifications, whereas the board diversity results are more sensitive to the estimation approach. Bayesian results support the positive direction of the main paths, but indirect effects remain inconclusive. Overall, the findings provide cautious associational evidence that diversity-related governance may be reflected in market valuation through observable diversity performance, subject to the small sample, short period, and Refinitiv data coverage.

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