The role of nomination committee in selecting female directors: a case of Malaysia

The growing importance of board diversity among directors has been established as a result of global financial crisis in 2008. According to the Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance 2012, nominating committee shall be responsible to select directors with diverse background that meet the needs of the company. This paper attempts to examine the impacts of having female directors in a nomination committee on gender diversity on board. For this purpose, 393 (50%) non-financial Malaysian listed companies were selected for the three year period of 2011 to 2013. Results indicated that having female directors in a nomination committee is significantly related to the level of gender diversity on board. The results also signify the importance to have female directors in nomination committee as it will influence gender diversity on board