While human capital diversity research has attracted tremendous growing interest and academic debates over the decades, most of the scholarship focuses on demographic observable human capital heterogeneity of gender, age, culture, ethnicity as opposed to cognitive and jobrelated managerial education, experience and skill diversity. Also, there is no scholarship of diversity for top managerial teams in the African context. To bridge this knowledge vacuum, the paper aims to investigate human capital diversity and the performance outcomes of firms. Data were drawn from the World Bank Enterprise Survey that spanned from 2013 to 2015. The World Bank survey targeted business owners and top managers from 2,676 firms in Nigeria, 270 firms in Ghana and 848 firms in Ethiopia across eight strata of manufacturing groups. This study applied the proportion of managerial skill, education and experience as surrogates of diversity indices of the variables and subjected the data to regression analysis to establish the link between human capital diversity of managerial education, experience, skill and firm performance consequences. In this study, it was found that managerial skill, education and experience diversity indices had a positive significant effect on sales and productivity growths in manufacturing firms in the three African countries. The study discussed valuable theoretical and managerial implications.

Armstrong, M. (2016). Handbook of human resources management practice, 10th ed., London: Kogan page.

Ararat, M., Aksu, M. & Cetin, T. A (2015). How board diversity affects firm performance in emerging markets: Evidence on channels in controlled firms, Corporate Governance: An International Review, 23(2), 83-103

Barberg, F & Hasso, T. (2013). Do we need to use an accountant? The sales growth and survival benefits to family SMEs, Family Business Review, 26(3), 271-292

Barney, J.B., & Clark, D.N. (2007). Resource-based theory: Creating and sustaining competitive advantage. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Burgoyene, J. & Stuart, R. (1976). The nature, use and acquisition of managerial skills and other attributes, Personnel Review,5(4), 20-29

Campbell, K. & Minguez-Vera A. (2007). Gender diversity in boardroom and firm financial performance,  Journal of Business Ethics,83(3), 435-451.

Carroll, G. R., & Harrison, J. R. (1998). Organizational demography and culture: Insights from a formal model and simulation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 637-667.

Carpenter, M.A. (2002). The implications of strategy and social context for the relationship between top management team heterogeneity and firm performance, Strategic Management Journal, 23(3), 275-284.

Datta, K. D., & Guthrie, D. J.(1994).Executive succession: Organisational antecedents of CEO characteristics, Strategic Management Journal, 15(7), 569-577

Gottesman, A. A., & Morey, R. M. (2006).Does a better education matter for managers? An empirical examination of CEO educational quality and firm performance, Social Sciencenetwork. Retrieved February  8 2020 from http://.ssrn.comabstract 564443

Hailey, H. V., Favndale, E. & Trus, C. (2005). The HR department’s role in organizational performance, Human Resources Management Journal, 15(3), 49-66

Harris, C. L. (2001) Market orientation and performance objective and subjective empirical evidence from UK companies, Journal of Management Studies, 38(1), 17-43

Jaisewall, S.S & Raman, K. K. (2019) Sales growth, CEO pay, and corporate governance, India Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance, 1-29, Doi: I:11770148558x19825612

Kanungo, N. R. & Misra, S. (1992). Managerial resourcefulness: A reconceptualization of management skills, Human relations, 45(12), 1311-1330

Kunze, F., Bochm, A. S. & Bruch H. (2011). Age diversity, age discrimination climate and performance consequences: A cross organizational study, Journal of Organizational Behaviour32(2); 264-290. 

Lee, S. B, Sosin, K & Hong H. S. (2005). Sectoral manufacturing productivity growth in Korean regions, Urban Studies42(7), 1201-1219

Levine, M. D., Stephan, F. D., Krehbiel, C. T. & Bereson, L. M. (2008).Statistics for managers:Using Microsoft excel, 5th ed., Pearson Education: Upper Saddle River

Millier, T., & Del Carmen Tariana, M. (2009).Demographic diversity in the boardroom: Mediator of diversity-firm performance relationship, Journal of Management Studies, 46(5), 755-786

Nielson, B. & Nielson, S. (2013). Top management team nationality diversity and firm performance: A multilevel study, Strategic Management Journal, 34(3), 373-382

Onwuka, O. I., Okoro, C. B., & Onodugo, A. V (2019). Measuring corporate governance beyond financial metrics: A study based on deposit money banks in Nigeria, Business Strategyand Development, 2, 332-348

Ool, C., Hooy, C., & Son, M, P. A. (2015). Diversity in human and social capital: Empirical evidence from Asian tourism firms in corporate board composition, Tourism Management48, 139-153.

Peterson, O.T. & Van Fleet, D. D. (2004). The ongoing legacy of R.L. Katz. Management Decision42(10), 1297-1308.

Siepel, J., Camerani, R., & Masucci (2019). Skills combinations and firm performance, Journal of Small Business Economicshttps://doc.org/10.1007/511187-019-002-49-3

Sørensen, J. B. (2002). The use and misuse of the coefficient of variation in organizational demography research. Sociological Methods & Research, 30(4), 475-491.

Wiersema, E. M. & Bantel, A. K. (1992). Top management team demography and corporate strategic change, Academy of Management Journal, 35(1), 91-121.

Yang, Y. & Konrad, M.A. (2011). Understanding diversity management practices: Implications of institutional theory and resource-based theory,  Group and Organization Management 36(1), 6-38.