EFFECT OF BOARD ATTRIBUTES ON FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF LISTED CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE COMPANIES IN NIGERIA

ABSTRACT Boards in the organogram of any establishment whether public or private, quoted or unquoted, profit oriented or not, is the apex decision making organ of the establishment. It may exist as a creation of law or code that must be followed or a product of coercive force. In the public sector, the members of board of directors can also be called council members, board of governors, governing council and other similar nomenclatures. Therefore, the study examined the effect of board attributes on financial performance of listed Construction/Real Estate Companies listed on Nigerian Stock Exchange. The study employs only secondary source of data collection through 5years (2018-2023) financial report of five (5) Construction/Real Estate Companies listed on Nigerian Stock Exchange as at 2021 as the sample for the study while STATA version 12.0 was used as method of data analysis. The findings of the study revealed that, financial performance will decrease by given a percentage increase in board independence. In addition, the relationship between the independent variables and sampled companies is also analyzed through the regression model measured. This regression analysis also reveals that all variables except Board Gender Diversity are negatively related to financial performance. However, only board independence is statistically significantly related to financial performance negatively. The study recommended among others, that, reduction of board composition will be critical to the success and survival of listed construction/real estate companies in Nigeria while firms should also increase their size through increase in liquidity and put these to efficient use in order to enjoy economies of scale. The size of the board must not be unwieldy so that company’s businesses can be managed effectively and efficiently by the board members.