The Institute of Directors in Southern Africa (IoDSA) says the trend of slowly improving company director sentiment on economic and business conditions over the 2016 to 2018 period, declined this year.

The sentiment on governance and directorship conditions remained positive, despite a slight decline in the level of positivity on these conditions, the fourth edition of its ‘South African Directors’ Sentiment Index Report’ shows. 

The research report aims to establish the perceptual position of South African directors on economic, business, governance and directorship conditions, as well as track this sentiment over time. 

IoDSA governance and corporate services executive Vikeshni Vandayar says that, since the inception of the index, South African directors have felt more positive than negative around governance conditions in South Africa.

“South African directors continue to feel that the application of good governance practices add value to businesses,” she noted, adding that this year saw directors feeling more positive on the matter of boards adequately setting the tone of ethical conduct through ethical leadership, than in previous years.

“The latest results and trends seem to indicate that South African directors are positive that governance practices can improve and that board members do have a large influence and ability to set the tone,” adds Vandayar.

For added interest, this year’s report includes qualitative feedback derived from two open-ended questions aimed at gaining feedback on the usefulness of the research itself and overall views of South African directors. 

“We were delighted to learn that the report is found to be very useful (mean score of 3.6 out of 5) by respondents; however, there is some work to be done to increase awareness of the report to non-IoDSA members,” Vandayar notes.

She explains that the qualitative feedback received in this year’s survey has been included in the report and the feedback will be considered by the IoDSA in future editions.

“We believe this study provides valuable indicators of the challenges that are most affecting members of the IoDSA and the wider director community in the execution of their directorship duties,” she comments.