scholarly journals Gendered brokerage and firm performance – An interlock analysis of the UK

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasaman Sarabi ◽  
Matthew Smith ◽  
Heather McGregor ◽  
Dimitris Christopoulos

PurposeCorporate success depends partially on the quality of knowledge accessible to the executive board. One route of access to such knowledge is the appointment of directors who already hold directorships with prominent other corporate actors. Such director appointments provide interlocks to a corporate knowledge ecosystem (Haunschild and Beckman, 1998). The purpose of this paper is to examine how linkages between companies belonging to different sectors impact firm performance and to examine how linkages created by female directors, as opposed to male directors, shape performance.Design/methodology/approachThis paper investigates the interlocks created between UK FTSE 350 companies from 2010 to 2018. It draws on network analysis to map the roles that male and female directors play in linking firms with varying sector classifications. The paper provides an examination of the impact of these roles on firm performance, through a panel data regression analysis.FindingsThis paper finds that there is an increase of inter-industry brokers over the period, and that men are still dominant in both the network and creating inter-industry ties amongst companies. However, the role of women in establishing these ties appears to be changing, and women are more important when it comes to create inter-industry ties among key economic sectors.Originality/valueThis paper provides a novel approach to examine the interplay between gendered inter (and intra) sectoral linkages and firm performance. It provides an original application of the two-mode brokerage analysis framework proposed in Jasny and Lubell (2015).

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio D’Amato

Purpose Empirical evidence on the relation between female involvement at the head of a company and firm performance remains inconclusive. This study aims to disentangle the existing evidence by exploring the moderating role of family firm status. Design/methodology/approach The study analyzes the moderating role of family firm status on the relation between gender diversity and firm performance among a sample of 88 Italian wine firms from Campania region during the 2007-2014 period. This work uses random effects panel data regression and tests the robustness of the results using alternative econometric techniques. Performance is measured in terms of profitability. Findings The findings reveal that women in top positions do not affect firm performance. However, it is found that this relation is significantly moderated by family firm status. Specifically, compared to high family-controlled firms, female involvement negatively impacts firm performance in low family-controlled firms. Research limitations/implications From a theoretical standpoint, the results enable a more nuanced interpretation of the relationship between female involvement and firm performance. From a managerial perspective, the results highlight conditions that may promote the role of women in business. Originality/value This paper provides insights into the relation between gender diversity and firm performance by exploring the moderating role of family firm status – a novel approach in the management and wine business literature.


2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine Khalil ◽  
Maksim Belitski

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the role of dynamic capabilities in the Information Technology (IT) Governance view framework and explores the relationship between three domains of IT governance (Strategy, Management and Operations) and firm performance. Design/methodology/approach In this study, the authors used a mixed methods approach and using a survey instrument and its validation with interviews, to collect data from 134 successful European SMEs in the multi-country setting of Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Spain and the UK. Findings The findings show that various IT governance mechanisms function as dynamic capabilities and are directly associated with firm performance. The impact of each mechanism is different. Originality/value This study highlights the relationship between IT governance acumens and organisational performance. It contributes to the field of IT Governance Framework in management, and the results may be generalisable to wider economies and different organisation types.


2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 368-385
Author(s):  
Yasaman Sarabi ◽  
Matthew Smith

Purpose This paper aims to provide an exploratory analysis of male and female directors, comparing the case of UK FTSE 350 boards of directors for 2010–2018, with Norwegian boards from 2002 to 2018, to examine patterns of busy female directors. This paper considers the differences between the effects of interest groups’ actions and those of quotas on the emergence of busy female directors. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a longitudinal approach, providing an examination of both non-busy directors and busy directors sitting on the boards of UK and Norwegian firms, with a focus on female directors. Drawing on methods from social network analysis, several trends and patterns are mapped for the two corporate systems. The paper tests whether the proportion of busy male directors is significantly different from the proportion of busy female directors in the two institutional settings. Findings The results show there has been an increase in the proportion of busy female directors, whereas the level of busy male directors is slightly decreasing in the UK from 2010 to 2018. In Norway, following the introduction of gender quotas on corporate boards, there has been an increase in overboarded directors, especially female directors, along with the rise of so-called “golden skirt” directors. However, when compared to the UK case, the proportion of busy male and female directors is higher, suggesting that the emergence of the golden skirts in Norway is not a result of quotas alone. Originality/value The topic of busy directors has received increased attention in recent years, yet the gender of these directors is often neglected. This paper provides an overview of the characteristics of busy female directors for large UK and Norwegian firms, presenting avenues for future research.


2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 564-580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nebojsa Stojcic ◽  
Iraj Hashi ◽  
Edvard Orlic

Purpose Creativity is often referred to as a seedbed of innovation. As such it holds the key to better performance and the competitiveness of firms. To better understand how creativity influences birth and commercialization of innovations and productive efficiency of firms the paper investigates how hiring of employees with different creative skills impacts innovation process and productivity. The purpose of this paper is to determine the role of creativity in innovation behavior and productive efficiency of firms. Design/methodology/approach Theoretical framework of the paper rests on pillars of evolutionary, Schumpeterian and endogenous growth literature contributions to the economics of innovation. The multi-stage analytical framework is applied to examine contribution of creativity to the decision of firms to innovate, investment in innovation activities, commercialization of innovations and firm efficiency. The econometric techniques of generalized tobit and simultaneous equations framework are applied to confidential data from the UK Innovation Survey in 2010-2012 period. Findings The investigation broadens our understanding of factors and forces that shape innovation process and improve productive efficiency of firms. It provides empirical evidence on an impact of the effectiveness of innovation process on the productivity of firms. The results reveal that creative skills contribute to the generation of novel ideas and investment in research and development but the ability to meet customer requirements draws from other organizational skills such as marketing or organizational innovations. Differences are revealed among economic sectors with respect to the forces driving the innovation process. Research limitations/implications Further research will be needed to investigate cross-country differences in management of creativity and its contribution to the innovation process and productivity. The limited availability of data on creativity and innovation activities of firms presents the most important limitation in this sense. The framework set by this paper can serve as direction for further investigations. Practical implications The results provide implications to managers regarding the management of innovation process. First, the study reveals how creative potential of employees can be optimally exploited in different stages of innovation process. Second, the research highlights number of other factors relevant in this process from the utilization of information, subsidies and the general management of human resources. Finally, the results suggest that sectoral heterogeneity should be taken into account in management of innovation activities of individual firms. Originality/value While the impact of creativity on innovation has been addressed previously, this paper is one of first attempts to examine the linkages between management of creativity, effectiveness of innovation process and productive efficiency of firms within a single framework. One of reasons for this is the fact that it relies on the confidential dataset of firms not easily accessible to researchers.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Franco Ernesto Rubino ◽  
Paolo Tenuta ◽  
Domenico Rocco Cambrea

Purpose This paper aims to examine empirically the impact of gender diversity on corporate performance by both comparing different positions occupied by female directors on the boards and their personal-specific characteristics. Design/methodology/approach The paper examines a sample of Italian listed companies during 2006–2015. To deal with endogeneity issues, the authors use a generalized method of moments as an empirical methodology. Findings The empirical findings show that the positive effect of both independent and executive women directors on firm performance is moderated by the specific characteristics of female directors. Specifically, the analyses show that foreign and busy females negatively impact on performance. Conversely, graduate female directors strengthen the positive link between executive women and firm performance. Originality/value The paper sheds light on the consequences of appointing different types of female directors (i.e. independent, executive, graduate, foreign and busy) on firm performance. Our empirical research that investigates the association between gender diversity and performance in the Italian context based on a longitudinal study, which involves a period of ten years, allowing consideration both of the years before and after the introduction of the gender quota law (Golfo–Mosca law).


2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 490-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Athanasios Poulis ◽  
Zazli Wisker

Purpose This paper aims to examine the impact of employee-based brand equity (EBBE) and perceived environmental uncertainty (PEU) on firm performance. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through an e-mail survey from fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) firms in the UK and UAE. Sample sectors included cosmetics and toiletries, household care products, packaged food, soft drinks and tobacco firms. Quantitative data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings The results suggest strong support for the hypothesized relationships, thereby providing strong validation for the proposed model. One interesting finding was that the PEU affected employee brand equity significantly stronger in the UK than in the UAE. This phenomenon is explained in the discussion section. Research limitations/implications Although several studies have indicated several other elements for EBBE, such as brand commitment and brand citizen behavior, the authors borrowed King et al.’s (2012) EBBE concept and limited their variables on EBBE for brand endorsement, brand allegiance and brand consistent behavior. Practical implications Knowledge is expanded through an empirical study validating the proposed model, which provides meaningful insights for developing training tools for internal brand management. Firms have to increase the brand manager’s commitment to increase the employee brand equity, which in turn increases the firm’s performance. Originality/value This paper makes three imperative contributions to the branding literature: expanding the existing brand equity literature to incorporate employee brand equity; being the first known empirically tested PEU on employee brand equity; and empirically testing employee brand equity, which has been ignored in branding literature on firm performance.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2, special issue) ◽  
pp. 194-202
Author(s):  
Pranesh Debnath ◽  
Promila Das ◽  
Najul Laskar ◽  
Shahbaz Babar Khan ◽  
Shweta Dhand ◽  
...  

The primary purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of CEO duality on firm performance. The study is based on secondary data collected from the published annual reports of respective companies and the Capitaline corporate database. The sample consists of 174 listed non-financial companies for eight years from 2011–12 to 2018–19. This study uses an appropriate panel data regression analysis to examine the impact of CEO duality on firm performance. Based on the panel data regression model, the study found mixed results, i.e., the impact of CEO duality on market capitalization is negative significant; however, the impact becomes positive when the firm performance is measured by return on assets. These outcomes of the present study are consistent with previous studies


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 238-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Godfred Adjappong Afrifa ◽  
Oluseyi Oluseun Adesina

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically explain the relationship between the remuneration levels of a sample of listed small and medium enterprise (SME) directors and firm performance. The paper also investigates whether deviations from the optimal directors’ remuneration level reduces firm performance. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a panel data regression analysis of 802 AIM-listed SMEs over an eight-year period (2005-2012). Findings Using a non-linear approach, the results show that an optimum director’s remuneration level is calculated by comparing the benefits and costs of director’s remuneration. Hence, the paper not only shows how directors’ remuneration level affects firm performance but it also extends the stream of knowledge by indicating how a deviation from the optimal point influences UK-listed SME performances. Moreover, the results show that the effect of directors’ remuneration on firm performance is greater during a financial crisis period. Originality/value Compared with previous literature on directors’ remuneration, this paper focuses on AIM-listed SMEs, and the author’s finding of a concave relationship between directors’ remuneration level and performance of leads them to recommend that firms, especially SMEs, should endeavour to determine the optimal level of directors’ remuneration to maximise performance.


Author(s):  
Harvinder Singh Mand ◽  
Manjit Singh

This paper intends to measure the impact of capital structure on EPS (earnings per share) in Indian corporate sector. Fifteen control variables along with capital structure have been selected to know their impact on EPS. Panel data regression has been applied to establish the relationship among dependent and independent variables. It is found from the empirical analysis that the relation of capital structure with EPS has been statistically insignificant in Indian corporate sector among all specific industries except telecommunication industry. The results are consistent with Modigliani-Miller approach.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0258042X2110261
Author(s):  
Mukesh Nepal ◽  
Rajat Deb

The study has attempted to examine whether the board size and board independence have any impact on the financial performances of the Indian textile firms. Accessing the data of the 40 sample firms representing the top 100 BSE-listed textile firms during the timeline 2015–2019 and applying the panel data regression model, it has assessed the impacts. Accounting- and market-based financial measures have been proxied, and a significant positive association between the board size and firm performance has been established. Interestingly, a significant inverse relationship between the board independence and financial performance has also been indicated. It has concurred policy implications as the inclusion of more number of board members would likely to increase the firm performance. Moreover, for improving the sound decision-making, firms may chalk out a policy with capping on the engagement of independent directors in other firms. It has acknowledged a few limitations and has sketched a roadmap for posterior studies as well. JEL Codes: G28, G30, M40


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