scholarly journals Board gender diversity, corporate governance and bank efficiency in Ghana: a two stage data envelope analysis (DEA) approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Adeabah ◽  
Agyapomaa Gyeke-Dako ◽  
Charles Andoh

PurposeThis study aims to analyze the efficiency of banks under board gender diversity and to examine the determinants of bank efficiency.Design/methodology/approachData for analysis were sourced from annual reports of 21 banks for the period from 2009 to 2017. A two-step framework was used: first, an examination of efficiency scores with and without board gender diversity computed using data envelopment analysis; and second, a regression of board gender diversity as a determinant of bank efficiency using panel estimation on an unbalanced panel data.FindingsThe results reveal that gender diversity promotes bank efficiency up to a maximum of two female directors on a nine-member board of directors, suggesting a threshold effect on bank efficiency. Board size improves bank efficiency. Board independence is negatively related to bank efficiency. Also, powerful chief executive officers are detrimental for bank efficiency. Finally, the authors find that ownership structure, bank size, bank age and loan-to-deposit ratio are important factors affecting bank efficiency.Research limitations/implicationsAll bank-year observations with no female representation on the board were excluded. As such, this paper is limited to 21 banks. Future research should look at a larger data set and account for dynamic endogeneity.Practical implicationsThe paper contributes to bank governance structure, namely, gender composition of boards, and provides an insight for regulators and shareholders to estimate the role of men and women on boards.Originality/valueThe novel feature of the efficiency model used is that it incorporates board gender diversity as an additional input variable, in line with the preposition of proponent of resource dependency theory.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Navaz Naghavi ◽  
Saeed Pahlevan Sharif ◽  
Hafezali Bin Iqbal Hussain

PurposeThis study seeks to add more insights to the debate on “whether”, “how”, and “under which condition” women representation on the board contributes to firm performance. More specifically, the current study aims to investigate if the effect of board gender diversity on firm performance is dependent on macro factors of national cultures.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used the generalized method of moments regression and a data set consists of 2,550 company year observations over 10 years.FindingsThe results indicated that cultural variables interact with board diversity to influence firm performance. Having women on the board in countries with high power distance, individualist, masculine and low-uncertainty avoidance culture influences the firm performance negatively.Originality/valueThe findings indicate that the effects of corporate governance structure on firm performance depends on culture-specific factors, providing support for the argument that institutional norms that are governed by cultural norms affect the effectiveness of corporate governance structure.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Injeni ◽  
Musa Mangena ◽  
David Mathuva ◽  
Robert Mudida

Purpose This paper aims to examine the factors influencing the level of disclosures of sustainability (SR) and integrated report (IR) information in a developing country context, with particular reference to Kenya. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a panel data set of 419 firm-year observations of listed companies in Kenya covering the period 2010 through 2018. Data are collected from the annual reports and analysed using a generalized estimations equation model. Findings The results reveal that there is momentum towards newer reporting frameworks in Kenya with substantial IR and SR disclosures in their annual reports. The results also show that level of SR and IR disclosures is influenced by both agency-related factors (board gender diversity, audit committee independence, block ownership and the presence of foreign ownership). Additionally, institutional-related factors (regulatory pressure and promotional efforts of regulatory and professional bodies [reporting excellence awards]) influence the disclosures. Practical implications The results highlight that initiatives such as those led by the regulatory and professional bodies in Kenya are effective in motivating companies to enhance disclosures. Thus, regulators and professional bodies might need to continue and even intensify their efforts. These results have implications for further research as they show that SR and IR disclosures are influenced by similar factors. Social implications The study has the potential to contribute to the ongoing initiatives and discussions on the adoption of IR by firms in Africa as spearheaded by the African Integrated Reporting Council. Originality/value To the best of the knowledge, the study is, perhaps, the first to examine both SR and IR disclosures at the same study allowing comparison of the extent and drivers of the two disclosures. Moreover, examining the institutional-related factors in a single country has not been done in prior literature, and so this is an innovation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 444-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.G. DeBoskey ◽  
Yan Luo ◽  
Jeff Wang

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of board gender diversity on the transparency of corporate political disclosure (CPD). Design/methodology/approach Two empirical proxies, CPD transparency and policy transparency, are constructed from a data set jointly produced by the Center of Political Activity and the Carol and Lawrence Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research. The CPD transparency score measures the level of transparency in voluntary corporate disclosure of the amount of political contributions and the identity of the recipients as well as the titles and names of the executives who authorize the political spending. The policy transparency score measures the level of transparency in the voluntary disclosure of the policies governing corporate political spending. Board gender diversity is measured by the percentage of women on the board of directors. Findings Higher proportions of female directors are associated with more transparent disclosure of political contributions after controlling for a set of corporate governance and firm-level variables. Originality/value This study is the first to examine whether and how gender-diversified boards enhance the transparency of CPD. It contributes to the literature by providing evidence that gender-diversified boards enhance corporate governance.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 771-791 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renee M. Oyotode-Adebile ◽  
Zubair Ali Raja

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of board gender diversity on bond terms and bondholders’ returns. Design/methodology/approach The authors perform pooled OLS regression, simultaneous regressions and propensity score matching to a panel data set of bond data for 319 US firms from 2007 to 2014. Findings The authors find that firms with gender-diverse boards have lower yields, higher ratings, larger issue size and shorter maturity. They also find that bondholders require fewer returns from firms with gender-diverse boards. However, the effect is more pronounced when women, constitutes at least 29.67 percent of the board. Originality/value This analysis supplements the findings that board gender diversity is essential for bondholders. It shows that bondholders should look at board gender diversity as a criterion to invest because bonds issued by firms with gender-diverse board have less risk. For practitioners, this study shows that more women participation on boards leads to a reduction in borrowing costs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurlan Orazalin

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine whether board gender diversity and other board characteristics affect earnings management practices of top public companies in Kazakhstan. Design/methodology/approach The study analyzes data of top public companies for the period 2010-2016. Data on corporate governance were manually collected from annual reports and investment memorandums, and financial data were collected from audited financial statements. Findings The empirical results show that companies with greater board gender diversity are more effective in constraining earnings management. The findings also indicate that companies with larger boards adopt a more restrained approach to earnings management practices, thus supporting the theoretical framework of the study. However, the results provide weak evidence of the association between board independence and earnings quality. Originality/value This study is the first to investigate the relationship between gender diversity and earnings management in emerging markets such as Kazakhstan that offers managerial and policy implications.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Oldford ◽  
Saif Ullah ◽  
Ashrafee Tanvir Hossain

PurposeThe objective of this paper is to leverage a two-sided view of social capital to develop a model of board gender diversity and firm performance using social capital data from Northeast Regional Center of Rural Development.Design/methodology/approachThe authors examine a large sample of 2,322 US publicly listed firms over the period 1996 to 2009. The final sample consists of 14,634 firm-year observations.FindingsThe authors find that when a firm's social network is not supportive of gender diversity, corporate boards have lower levels of female representation. The strength of a social network's social ties exacerbates the relationship between social capital and board gender diversity. The authors also report a negative relationship between female board membership and firm performance in social networks that are not pro-diversity. Robustness tests reveal that the authors’ social capital view of board diversity also applies to board ethnic diversity.Research limitations/implicationsThis study focuses primarily on blue chip firms due to data constraints. It will be interesting for future researchers to investigate a broader spectrum of firms from a broader perspective of diversity beyond the study’s gender and ethnicity findings. Furthermore, this study assesses the US context, and future research could investigate firm sociability in other national contexts.Practical implicationsThis study contributes new insights to the discourse on gender diversity on corporate boards which stand to inform both policy and practice. The results of the study can inform the position of an industry association on board gender diversity, with guidance on how messaging across networks can be more effective should it account for the hidden bias that the authors uncover in the current study. From a manager's perspective, this study can help those managers and boards trying to enhance board gender diversity by providing a more complete understanding of the factors that can limit progress.Originality/valueThis study contributes a social capital view of board gender diversity to the growing literature of corporate governance, board diversity and local environmental influences on corporate policies.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Khairul Anuar Kamarudin ◽  
Akmalia M. Ariff ◽  
Wan Adibah Wan Ismail

Purpose This study aims to investigate whether board gender diversity is associated with corporate sustainability performance and whether industry-level product market competition moderates the effect of board gender diversity on corporate sustainability performance. Design/methodology/approach This study uses international data extracted from global ESG data set from Thomson Reuters (Refinitiv) database. Using data of 23,137 firm-year observations from 37 countries, the authors perform regression analyses to examine the hypotheses. Findings The findings show that firms with high board gender diversity exhibit high corporate sustainability performance. The authors also find firms in highly competitive industries to have low corporate sustainability performance. In highly competitive industries, the positive relationship between board gender diversity and corporate sustainability performance is weakened. The results are robust to various specification tests such as alternative measures for corporate sustainability performance, board gender diversity, product market competition and also the use of propensity score matching to address endogeneity issue. Overall, the results support the prediction that board diversity and product market competition play a substitutive role in influencing corporate sustainability performance. Research limitations/implications This study offers empirical evidence that the appointment of female directors is a useful way to improve a firm’s corporate sustainability performance, hence, providing significant benefits in terms of stakeholders’ values and corporate reputation. Practical implications This study provides useful insights to investors and policymakers that intense industry competition might mitigate the role of board governance, particularly board gender diversity, in enhancing corporate sustainability performance. Originality/value Using an international data set, where the observations operate in various market and institutional differences, this study is able to extricate the positive impact of board gender diversity and product market competition on corporate sustainability performance. This study corroborates evidence that sustainability strategy and initiatives are reflections of integrated factors, including corporate governance as internal driver and market forces faced by firms as external driver.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oren Mooneeapen ◽  
Subhash Abhayawansa ◽  
Dinesh Ramdhony ◽  
Zainab Atchia

PurposeWe investigate the association between intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) and board characteristics in the unique setting of Mauritius, a Small Island Developing State. The uniqueness of the setting stems from the country's corporate governance landscape, where most companies have female directors and a high proportion of directors with multiple directorships, director independence is symbolic and directors come from a close-knit group.Design/methodology/approachWe use 120 firm-year observations from companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius from 2014 to 2017. All data is hand collected from annual reports using content analysis method. Panel multivariate regression is used to test the hypotheses with relevant controls, including intellectual capital performance.FindingsICD is negatively associated with board independence and positively associated with gender diversity of the board. No association is found between ICD and the size of the board, multiple directorships or the average tenure of the board members.Originality/valueThis is the first study investigating the association of board gender diversity, multiple directorship and tenure of board members with ICD in annual reports. The relationships observed between board characteristics and ICD highlight the context-dependent nature of these relationships. This study also overcomes the correlated omitted variable bias likely to have affected the analyses in previous studies examining the nexus between board characteristics and ICD through its control for intellectual capital performance.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Moncef Guizani ◽  
Ahdi Noomen Ajmi

Purpose This study aims to explore the role of board gender diversity in mitigating chief executive officer (CEO) luck. CEOs are “lucky” when they receive stock option grants on days when the stock price is the lowest in the month of the grant, implying opportunistic timing. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a logistic regression analysis and an instrumental-variable analysis. The sample consists of 3,249 firm-year observations from 2010 through 2015. Findings The results show that female directors significantly deter the opportunistic timing of option grants. This study finds that gender diversity – as measured by the percentage of women on the board, the percentage of female independent directors and the percentage of female directors on the compensation committee are likely to reduce the odds that CEOs receive opportunistically timed lucky grants. The results are consistent with those in prior research that documents the benefits of board gender diversity. Practical implications The research findings are beneficial to policymakers and regulators, as it allows them to assess the importance of diversity on boards in the monitoring of the managers, particularly as it pertains to the design of CEO compensation packages. Furthermore, these findings have implications for Ibero-American countries as they shed light on the importance to undertake measures and reforms to promote board effectiveness by the introduction of gender diversity. Originality/value While prior research has examined the effect of board gender diversity on firm performance, the study is the first to investigate the effect of female directors on the opportunistic timing of option grants, using a rigorous empirical framework that explicitly accounts for endogeneity.


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abubakr Saeed ◽  
Amna Yousaf ◽  
Jaithen Alharbi

Purpose In times of vivid debates on the inclusion of women on boards, the purpose of this paper is to shed a new light on the composition of boardrooms in emerging market firms by investigating how family and state ownership affect board-gender diversity in the emerging economies. Design/methodology/approach This study uses Tobit regression to examine the effect of firm ownership on board-gender diversity. A panel data set of Chinese and Indian firms for the period 2004-2013 is used to conduct this study. Findings The results show a negative and significant impact of family and state ownership on the proportion of women directors. However, this relationship is seen to be reverse if the firm is operating in international markets. Notably, a negative relationship was seen to persist between ownership structure and board-gender diversity for both female executive and independent board members, whereas a positive impact of internationalization was observed only for independent female directors. Originality/value This research addresses the board-gender diversity issue in emerging economies by focusing on firm characteristics which are unique to their business context. Further, this study identifies the conditions under which emerging market firms assimilate or proscribe women on their boards by recognizing the salient features of firms from emerging markets. Hence, in doing so, new evidence is added to the studies on the determinants of board-gender diversity. Lastly, it advances the earlier literature based on resource dependency and agency views and demonstrates the importance of internationalization for the inclusion of women on corporate boards.


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