Tokenism or realism? Gender inclusion in corporate boards

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 707-725
Author(s):  
Arunima Haldar ◽  
Sumita Datta ◽  
Snehal Shah
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Ownership Structure ◽  
Corporate Boards ◽  
Women Directors ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Endogenous Factors ◽  
Gender Biases ◽  
Human And Social Capital ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe paper investigates how the interplay of women-specific human and social capital factors with ownership structure impacts her chances to get director level appointment in the light of recent amendments to the Indian statute.Design/methodology/approachThe strength of the study lies in fitting a logistic regression model to the unique hand collected data on women director characteristics from 100 large listed Indian firms.FindingsCounter intuitive findings reveal negative effects of social capital on appointment of independent women directors. This relationship gets reversed when social capital is moderated by ownership structure.Social implicationsCompanies may be influenced to take into cognizance the underlying gender biases prevailing in the highest echelons of management and employ un-gendered fair selection practices for board level appointments in order to progress towards gender balanced corporate boards.Originality/valueThe paper is a first of its kind that combines aspects of human capital and ownership structure using Indian data. By developing several new proxy variables to enrich the construct of social capital it contributes to the corporate governance literature and lastly, through main and interaction effects, the paper offers a deeper understanding about the impact of endogenous factors of corporate boards on women's representation at leadership levels in India.

Social capital and national innovation system: a cross-country analysis

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 453-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sepehr Ghazinoory ◽  
Ali Bitaab ◽  
Ardeshir Lohrasbi
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
National Level ◽  
Innovation System ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Different Dimensions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Positive Effect

Purpose – In the last two decades, researchers have paid much attention to the role of cultural values on economic and social development. In particular, the crucial role of different aspects of culture on the development of innovation has been stressed in the literature. Consequently, it is vital to understand how social capital, as a core cultural value, affects the innovation process and the innovative performance at the national level. However, to date, the impact of different dimensions of social capital and innovation has not been properly portrayed or explained. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of four different dimensions of social capital (institutional and interpersonal, associational life and norms) on two of the main functions of national innovation system (NIS) (entrepreneurship and knowledge creation) based on over 50,000 observations in 34 countries. Design/methodology/approach – In this regard, national-level data from the World Values Survey database was employed to quantify social capital. Entrepreneurship is, in turn, assumed to consist of three sub-indexes and 14 indicators based on the Global Entrepreneurship Index. Knowledge creation is also measured through US Patent Office applications. Also, exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling approach were used to build the measurement model and investigate the impact that each factor of social capital had on entrepreneurship and knowledge application, respectively. Measurement and structural models were built and their reliability and validity were tested using various fit indices. Research findings suggest the strong positive effect of institutional trust and networking on entrepreneurship. Also, interpersonal trust and networks were shown to have high influence on knowledge development at the national level. Norms appear to have naïve to medium negative effects on both functions. Findings – Research findings suggest the strong positive effect of institutional trust and networking on entrepreneurship. Also, interpersonal trust and networks were shown to have high influence on knowledge development at the national level. Norms appear to have naïve to medium negative effects on both functions. Originality/value – However, to date, the impact of different dimensions of social capital and innovation has not been properly portrayed or explained.

Gender gaps in opportunity-driven entrepreneurship: the impact of human and social capital

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Chen ◽  
Byung Hee Lee ◽  
Asylgul Alymkulova
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Underlying Mechanism ◽  
Social Capital Theory ◽  
Gender Gaps ◽  
Capital Theory ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Human And Social Capital ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate gender gaps in opportunity-driven entrepreneurship and illuminate the underlying mechanism of why women are less likely to create ventures in order to take advantage of the opportunity than men.Design/methodology/approachBy drawing on human/social capital theory and expanding extant gender-related entrepreneurship literature, this study addresses how human and social capital mediates the relationship between gender and opportunity-driven entrepreneurship. A sample of 115,367 individuals across 62 countries drawn from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor of 2016 was examined using multilevel logistic regression and Karlson-Holm-Breen (KHB) mediation analysis.FindingsFindings of this study demonstrate that women’s lack of entrepreneurial relevant knowledge and skills, intrapreneurship experience as well as social networks with other entrepreneurs contribute to women’s less likelihood of engaging in opportunity-driven entrepreneurship than their male counterparts.Originality/valueCompared to previous research mainly investigating macro-level determinants, this study further explores the explanatory factors affecting gender gaps in opportunity-driven entrepreneurship from the individual level. The findings provide an implication for public policy and give a direction to rethinking how to promote opportunity-driven entrepreneurship, especially for that led by women.

scholarly journals Examining the impact of microfinance on microenterprise performance (implications for women-owned microenterprises in Indonesia)

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (10) ◽  
pp. 962-981 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adwin Surja Atmadja ◽  
Jen-Je Su ◽  
Parmendra Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Human Capital ◽  
Business Performance ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Group Leaders ◽  
Content Type ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Loan Officers ◽  
Human And Social Capital ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impacts of microfinance on women-owned microenterprises’ (WMEs) performance in Indonesia. It especially observes how financial, human and social capital influences performance of enterprises. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from a survey conducted in Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city, covering more than 100 WMEs. The ordered probit technique is applied to estimate the performance vis-à-vis financial, social and human capital relationships. Findings This study finds a negative relationship between performance and financial capital, and positive relationships between performance-human capital and performance-social capital. However, with respect to human capital, the level of education has a marginally significant relationship with performance. Practical implications Microcredit for the purposes of enhancing business performance might not necessarily be a good idea, if it is unable to generate higher returns. As a business develops, the volume of microcredit should be reduced, and replaced by owners’ own savings and retained profits. Regarding the non-financial factors, it might be useful for policy makers to contemplate providing incentives for spouse involvement in microenterprises run by women, and to consider them in designing credit policies. Group meetings activities should be extended to facilitate members to engage in business-related conversations and to develop social relationships. The ability of loan officers and group leaders to facilitate such conversations appears important. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study provides the first in-depth understanding of the role of microfinance programmes in the case of performance of WMEs in Indonesia, one of the world’s most populous economies.

Female board directorship and earnings management

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yosra Mnif ◽  
Imen Cherif
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Corporate Boards ◽  
Women Directors ◽  
Homogeneous Sample ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Gender Diverse ◽  
Gender Quota ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to examine the impact of female board directorship on the extent of earnings management. Design/methodology/approach The research hypotheses have been tested using both univariate and multivariate analyzes based on a sample of 198 firm-year observations from closely-held family firms listed on the SBF 120 over the period 2010–2018. Findings The empirical results first indicate that female board participation reduces the level of earnings management. When looking at women positions in the companies’ boardrooms, the authors reveal that the negative linkage between female board directorship and earnings management remains constant for independent female directors while the opposite holds for their family-affiliated counterparts. Further, the gender quota reform is shown to mitigate the adverse relationship between gender-diverse corporate boards and the extent of earnings management. These results seem sound, as they hold unchanged for the several measures of, both, boardroom gender diversity and earnings management used in the empirical study. In a supplementary analysis, the authors provide evidence that the association between the presence of women directors on the companies’ boards and earnings management depends, in a different way, on the size of the audit firm in a joint auditing context. Originality/value The country and the period considered in this paper are noteworthy characteristics that enhance the value of this research. The present study is relevant because it examines the relationship between female boardroom participation and earnings management using a homogeneous sample of family-owned and -managed companies within which shareholders and board members share identical motives for manipulating earnings in one of the leading countries in the world with regard to family ownership dominance (i.e. France). Moreover, this paper is considered to be very timely, as it explores, contrarily to previous related studies, the years following the implementation of a mandatory gender quota reform in one of the less available countries, to date, that have amended a gender quota law. To the knowledge, besides France, there are a few markets (Norway, Belgium, Finland and Iceland) that have implemented such legislation.

scholarly journals Inclusive growth through creation of human and social capital

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (10) ◽  
pp. 878-895 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soumyananda Dinda
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Social Capital ◽  
Human Capital ◽  
School Enrollment ◽  
Inclusive Growth ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government ◽  
Human And Social Capital ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse inclusive growth that focuses on the creation of opportunities for all. Inclusive growth allows people to contribute to and benefit from economic growth, while pro-poor growth approaches focusing on welfare of the poor only to reduce inequality. Design/methodology/approach – Social capital forms with the development of human capital through schooling. Educated individuals are interested in dialogue and conversation. Interaction enables people to build trust, confidence and cooperation, to commit themselves to each other (i.e. reciprocity), and thereby to knit the social fabric. This study deals with the formation of social capital through development of human capital that is created through improvement of schooling and/or social inclusion. Creation of human and social capital is the basis for inclusive growth. Findings – Recently, economics literature incorporates social capital for explaining regional disparities. Economic development of country depends on the impact of social capital which includes social culture, norms and regulations that promote economic reforms and development activities. Social capital forms with the development of human capital through schooling. Research limitations/implications – More detail regional levels data are required for empirical findings. Practical implications – This paper definitely suggests a clear policy for inclusive growth model in less developed regions/countries. Briefly and specific few policies are suggested as: first, improve productive consumption providing nutritional intake to all the excluded people of the society; second, dismal the social blocking and create the base for bridging social capital formation; third, improve school enrollment and strengthen the feeling of togetherness; fourth, design school curriculum as per need base; and fifth, develop institutions and improve capacity building. Social implications – The Government expenditure policy should be focused more on productive consumption rather than unproductive consumption. The government should concentrate on the development of education and health sectors. Originality/value – The inclusive economic growth process overcomes low-level equilibrium trap. The predictions of the model are examined empirically for a cross-section of countries and have substantial support in the chosen sample data.

Technological innovation among internationality active SMEs in the Czech economy

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Preeti Wadhwa ◽  
Marleen McCormick ◽  
Martina Musteen
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Technological Innovation ◽  
Robust Regression ◽  
International Markets ◽  
Professional Background ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Human And Social Capital ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to examine the impact of human and social capital of CEOs of internationally active small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Czech Republic on their firms’ approach to technological innovation. Design/methodology/approach The study sample was drawn from data collected from the population of Czech manufacturing firms. The final sample included 153 SMEs that met the criteria for inclusion in the study. The authors employed robust regression analysis to test their specific hypotheses. Findings This study found that human capital (in the form of CEOs’ professional background and foreign customer knowledge) and social capital (conceptualized as embeddedness in the international markets) of CEOs in the Czech Republic impacted their firms’ approach to technological innovation. Specifically, firms headed by CEOs with professional background in output functions (R&D and marketing) are more likely to invest in technological innovation. The same was found true for firms led by CEOs who possessed a strong knowledge of international customers and were socially embedded in international markets. Originality/value This study makes a twofold contribution to the extant literature. First, it develops and tests the theoretical link between human and social capital and technological innovation among internationally active firms. Second, it highlights factors that positively influence technological innovation in the context of a small Central European economy, a setting that has been generally viewed as unfavorable to such innovation.

The impact of overseas human capital and social ties on Chinese returnee entrepreneurs’ venture performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenzhong Ma ◽  
Jinwei Zhu ◽  
Yong Meng ◽  
Ying Teng
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Human Capital ◽  
Entrepreneurial Opportunity ◽  
International Context ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Venture Performance ◽  
Domestic Capital ◽  
Entrepreneurship Theory ◽  
Human And Social Capital ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Entrepreneurship research clearly documents the importance of human and social capital and stresses the way in which entrepreneurs take advantage of their own social affiliations and network strategies in pursuit of their entrepreneurial goals, yet the research on returnee entrepreneurs’ human and social capital is not sufficiently studied in the international context, in particular when returnees’ overseas human capital and social capital may be a misfit with local business environment. Using the data from Chinese returnee entrepreneurs’ venture activities in China, the purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of returnee entrepreneurs’ overseas capital (human and social) and domestic capital (human and social) on their venture performance in China, and further explore the interaction effect of different social and human capital with China’s entrepreneurial environment. Design/methodology/approach This study surveyed 500 start-up businesses created by returnee entrepreneurs in China to collect data. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data on their demographic information, the information about the human and social capital of these returnee entrepreneurs, including domestic and overseas capital, various performance measures, and other control variables ending up with 226 usable questionnaires. Findings The results show that Chinese returnee entrepreneurs’ overseas human capital and social capital, as well as their domestic social capital, but not domestic human capital, have a significant impact on their venture performance. In addition, while domestic entrepreneurial environment does not affect the impact of overseas human and social capital on venture performance, it does provide an important contextual setting for domestic capital to improve returnee entrepreneurs’ venture performance. Originality/value The findings help enrich the understanding of the dynamic interplays among Chinese returnee entrepreneurs’ domestic human capital and social capital, overseas human capital, and social capital, as well as the entrepreneurial environment for returnee entrepreneurs’ success, which makes an important contribution to the international entrepreneurship theory by showing that overseas human capital and social capital are not a misfit with local markets. It also provides empirical support for the mediating effect of entrepreneurial opportunity identification. The important role of entrepreneurial opportunity is empirically supported in an international context: entrepreneurship is all about the discovery of entrepreneurial opportunities and exploitation of this opportunity to create viable business entities for new products and services, even in the Chinese context, a culture which is very different from the ones where the entrepreneurship theory was developed.

The More Control, the Better?

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeeyun Oh ◽  
Mun-Young Chung ◽  
Sangyong Han
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Design ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Story Structure ◽  
Content Type ◽  
High User ◽  
User Control ◽  
Rigorous Research ◽  
Control Versus ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Impact

Despite of the popularity of interactive movie trailers, rigorous research on one of the most apparent features of these interfaces – the level of user control – has been scarce. This study explored the effects of user control on users’ immersion and enjoyment of the movie trailers, moderated by the content type. We conducted a 2 (high user control versus low user control) × 2 (drama film trailer versus documentary film trailer) mixed-design factorial experiment. The results showed that the level of user control over movie trailer interfaces decreased users’ immersion when the trailer had an element of traditional story structure, such as a drama film trailer. Participants in the high user control condition answered that they were less fascinated with, absorbed in, focused on, mentally involved with, and emotionally affected by the movie trailer than participants in the low user control condition only with the drama movie trailer. The negative effects of user control on the level of immersion for the drama trailer translated into users’ enjoyment. The impact of user control over interfaces on immersion and enjoyment varies depending on the nature of the media content, which suggests a possible trade-off between the level of user control and entertainment outcomes.

Overcoming resistance to product rebranding

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 621-632 ◽  
Author(s):  
Véronique Collange ◽  
Adrien Bonache
Keyword(s):  
Indirect Effect ◽  
Consumer Attitudes ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Brand Name ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Marketing Practice ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Name Change ◽  
Marketing Managers ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to understand how and why consumers resist or accept product rebranding. It seeks to identify and to quantify the drivers of attitudes toward this marketing practice to guide marketing managers in the execution of an effective changeover. Design/methodology/approach – The research is conducted in three stages. First, a qualitative study is run among 45 consumers to identify variables that might influence attitudes toward product rebranding. Second, a review of literature on the emotion of surprise is carried out to specify the relationships between the variables previously identified and to formulate hypotheses. Third, a quantitative study is conducted among 480 consumers to test the hypotheses and to quantify the impact of each variable. Findings – Surprise impacts attitudes toward product rebranding through a three-way process (automatic, higher-order cognitive, higher-order affective): a direct negative effect, an indirect effect mediated by incomprehension about the reasons for the change and an indirect effect mediated by the negative emotions generated by the change. Moreover, trust in firms diminishes the negative effects of anger, fear and sadness on attitudes toward product rebranding. Research limitations/implications – The research offers a better understanding of processes involved in the building of consumer attitudes toward brand name change. However, it only constitutes a first step in the attempt to understand the phenomena. Practical implications – This practice of brand name change is increasingly popular, but marketing managers are skeptical about the best way to implement it. The paper provides a better understanding of consumer reactions to product rebranding, so that marketing managers can make better decisions. It reveals guidance for successful brand name changes. Originality/value – This paper is the first to propose and to test a comprehensive model of the mental processes involved in the building of consumer attitudes toward product rebranding.

scholarly journals Firm’s strategic choices and network knowledge dynamics: how do they affect innovation?

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose Antonio Belso-Martinez ◽  
Isabel Diez-Vial
Keyword(s):  
Absorptive Capacity ◽  
Knowledge Networks ◽  
Knowledge Network ◽  
Strategic Choices ◽  
Network Growth ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Endogenous Factors ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Innovative Capacity ◽  
Over Time

Purpose This paper aims to explain how the evolution of knowledge networks and firms’ strategic choices affect innovation. Endogenous factors associated with a path-dependent evolution of the knowledge network are jointly considered with a firm’s development of international relationships and increasing internal absorptive capacity over time. Design/methodology/approach In a biotech cluster, the authors gathered data on the firms’ characteristics and network relationships by asking about the technological knowledge they received in the cluster in 2007 and 2012 – “roster-recall” method. Estimation results were obtained using moderated regression analysis. Findings Firms that increase their involvement in knowledge networks over time also tend to increase their innovative capacity. However, efforts devoted to building international links or absorptive capacity negatively moderate the impact of network growth on innovation. Practical implications Practitioners have two alternative ways of increasing innovation inside knowledge networks: they can increase their centrality by developing their knowledge network interactions or invest in developing their internal absorptive capacity and new international sources of knowledge. Investing in both of these simultaneously does not seem to improve a firm’s innovative capacity. Originality/value Coupling firms’ strategic options with knowledge network dynamics provide a more complete way of explaining how firms can improve their innovative capacity.

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