Board Gender Diversity and Cash Holdings: Empirical Evidence from the European Sport and Leisure Sector

The scope of this study is to examine the impact of board gender diversity on corporate cash-holding decisions within the European sport and leisure sector. A sample of 125 unique firms was selected for the period from 2008 to 2019, and analysis was performed using panel fixed-effects regressions. Empirical evidence documented that the higher the number of women serving on the board of directors, the higher the level of cash the firm holds. This result is attributed to the critical mass theory of governance, suggesting that boards having at least two women directors are associated with higher cash holdings compared to firms with one or no women directors. Additionally, gender diversity leads to increased cash holdings for firms with lower governance quality, suggesting that women on boards perform a monitoring role within those firms with the most severe agency problems. The results remain robust after several sensitivity tests controlling for potential endogeneity among the variables and the model’s functional form.

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Women on board: evidence from a masculine industry

Corporate Governance ◽

10.1108/cg-02-2014-0015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 15 (3) ◽

pp. 339-356 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

Author(s):

Claudia Arena ◽

Alessandro Cirillo ◽

Donata Mussolino ◽

Ingrid Pulcinelli ◽

Sara Saggese ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Firm Performance ◽

Educational Level ◽

Demographic Variable ◽

Critical Mass ◽

Gender Diversity ◽

Ordinary Least Squares ◽

Women Directors ◽

Content Type ◽

Board Gender Diversity ◽

The Impact

Purpose – This paper aims to provide insights on the gender-performance relationship, this paper studies the impact of board gender diversity on firm performance, by taking into account the “critical mass” of women directors and their educational level. Design/methodology/approach – The hypotheses are tested on a unique dataset of 211 European Union publicly listed companies in 2012 belonging to the construction industry from 28 different countries through a set of ordinary least squares regressions. Findings – The evidence shows that the “critical mass” rather than the simple presence of women has an incremental benefit on firm performance. In addition, results show that the educational level of women directors negatively affects firm performance, as it might impact the dynamics within the boardroom. Research limitations/implications – The quantitative nature of the study does not allow drawing strong inferences on behavioral processes and dynamics in and around the boardroom. Nevertheless, this study will open new research insights on exploring the educational level on board. Practical implications – Regulators and policymakers that should be aware of the influence of women as a group on firm performance and that this role is differential across industries. Originality/value – The novelty of this paper is that it investigates the role of women in a high masculine gender-specific industry and explores a still poorly understood demographic variable (i.e. the educational level) of women directors.

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Composition and Activity of the Board of Directors: Impact on ESG Performance in the Banking System

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su10124699 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (12) ◽

pp. 4699 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Giuliana Birindelli ◽

Stefano Dell’Atti ◽

Antonia Iannuzzi ◽

Marco Savioli

Keyword(s):

Board Of Directors ◽

Fixed Effects ◽

Critical Mass ◽

Banking System ◽

The United States ◽

Fixed Effects Panel Regression ◽

The Board Of Directors ◽

Corporate Social ◽

The Impact

A growing body of research suggests that the composition of a firm’s board of directors can influence its environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. In the banking industry, ESG performance has not yet been explored to discover how a critical mass of women on the board of directors affects performance. This paper seeks to fill this gap in the literature by testing the impact of a critical mass of female directors on ESG performance. Other board characteristics are accounted for: independence, size, frequency of meetings and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) sustainability committee. We use fixed effects panel regression models on a sample of 108 listed banks in Europe and the United States for the period 2011–2016. Our main empirical evidence shows that the relationship between women on the board of directors and a bank’s ESG performance is an inverted U-shape. Therefore, the critical mass theory for banks is not supported, confirming that only gender-balanced boards positively impact a bank’s performance for sustainability. There is a positive link between ESG performance and board size or the presence of a CSR sustainability committee, while it is negative with the share of independent directors. With this work, we stress the key role of corporate governance principles in banks’ ESG performance, with relevant implications for both banks and supervisory authorities.

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Gender diversity and financial performance of the stock exchange listed companies

Corporate Ownership and Control ◽

10.22495/cocv17i4siart4 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (4, Special Issue) ◽

pp. 257-267

Author(s):

Yasmina Jaber

Keyword(s):

Stock Exchange ◽

Critical Mass ◽

Gender Diversity ◽

Listed Companies ◽

Least Square ◽

Bivariate Analysis ◽

Explanatory Variables ◽

Muslim Countries ◽

The Board Of Directors ◽

The Impact

Tunisia is considered one of the first Arab Muslim countries to have the freedom of women and their participation in the economic sphere. Despite these advancements in women’s freedom, Tunisia still has a few women in positions of responsibility in the business. Our reflection on gender diversity will, therefore, be studied from the angle of the contribution of women to the performance of the company. Our research uses different gender diversity proxies such as the percentage of women on the board, a binary variable, and two additional indices of the diversity the Blau and Shannon indices. In order to properly study this impact, we have mainly used bivariate analysis by studying the association between endogenous and explanatory variables and multivariate analysis by applying double least square regression (2SLS). Using the panel data methodology and controlling for endogeneity, the results show that gender diversity on the board of directors does not have an impact on the performance of listed companies measured by Tobin’s Q. However, if critical mass is reached, the impact on gender diversity becomes positive and significant.

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Does Gender Diversity Affect the Environmental Performance of Banks?

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su122310172 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (23) ◽

pp. 10172

Author(s):

Clara Gallego-Sosa ◽

Yakira Fernández-Torres ◽

Milagros Gutiérrez-Fernández

Keyword(s):

Environmental Performance ◽

Fixed Effects ◽

Banking Sector ◽

Gender Diversity ◽

Active Role ◽

Women Directors ◽

Relevant Variables ◽

Board Gender Diversity ◽

The Relationship ◽

Selection Of

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity today. Therefore, all segments of society must act together to stop the deterioration of the planet and the depletion of its resources. The business sector must play an active role in acting responsibly toward the environment. Given the importance of this issue, major efforts have been made to analyze the environmental performance of the most polluting sectors. In contrast, other sectors that are also of great interest due to their contribution to sustainable development, such as the banking sector, have been overlooked. Notable factors conditioning performance include aspects of corporate governance such as gender diversity. However, the empirical evidence reveals a lack of consensus regarding the influence of women directors on corporate environmental performance. This background motivates the study of the commitment of the banking sector to reducing their environmental impact and the analysis the influence of board gender diversity on environmental performance. Data for the period 2009 to 2018 on 52 banks from the most polluting Western regions were studied using descriptive statistics and fixed effects econometric estimation to test the relationship between a selection of relevant variables. The key conclusions are that banks are committed to protecting the environment and that there are no significant differences between banks’ commitment to the planet on the basis of board gender diversity.

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What drives the impact of women directors on firm performance? Evidence from intellectual capital efficiency of US listed firms

Journal of Intellectual Capital ◽

10.1108/jic-09-2019-0222 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 21 (4) ◽

pp. 513-530 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Faisal Shahzad ◽

Mushahid Hussain Baig ◽

Ijaz Ur Rehman ◽

Fawad Latif ◽

Bruno S. Sergi

Keyword(s):

Intellectual Capital ◽

Gender Diversity ◽

Performance Measure ◽

Women Directors ◽

Firm Level ◽

Content Type ◽

Capital Efficiency ◽

Board Gender Diversity ◽

The Impact ◽

The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study whether the presence of women directors on the corporate board influences financial performance (FP). To examine the underlying causal mechanism, the authors modeled firm-level intellectual capital efficiency (ICE) in the relationshipbetween board gender diversity (BGD) and FP. Design/methodology/approach Using a sample of 5,879 US firms, a structural model of BGD, IC and FP is conceptualized by accounting for the endogeneity issues and alternative measures of the key variables in the empirical framework. In the model, the percentage of women directors is taken as BGD measures and value-added intellectual coefficient as an IC performance measure, considering governance and corporate performance measures. Findings The authors find a significant impact of BGD on FP. In particular, the results suggest: BGD is linked to IC; the influence of board gender diversity on the FP is indirect; and ICE fully mediates the relationship between BGD and FP. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, no study has empirically investigated whether the firm-level IC performance explains the influence of BGD on FP. Drawing on the resource-based view and organizational learning theory of the firm, the authors empirically modeled the relationship between BGD and FP through a mediation mechanism of firm-level ICE to fill the void in the literature.

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Board gender diversity and dividend policy: Case of Jordanian commercial banks

Corporate Board role duties and composition ◽

10.22495/cbv13i3art4 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 13 (3) ◽

pp. 33-41 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Asma’a Al-Amarneh ◽

Hadeel Yaseen ◽

Majd Iskandrani

Keyword(s):

Commercial Banks ◽

Dividend Policy ◽

Stock Exchange ◽

Gender Diversity ◽

Women Directors ◽

International Financial Crisis ◽

The Government ◽

Board Gender Diversity ◽

The Impact ◽

The Relationship

This paper aims to investigate the impact of board gender diversity on dividend policy in the context of Jordanian commercial banks. Using a sample of 13 Jordanian commercial banks listed on Amman Stock Exchange during the period 2005-2014, we find strong and robust evidence indicating that diversified boards tend to pay higher cash dividends to shareholders since women can better address the needs of investors in impatient emerging markets. Moreover, this paper presents the negative moderating effect of both, the government existence in the boardroom and international financial crisis on the relationship between gender diversity and dividend policy indicators. Under such conditions, the diversified boards became more conservative and retained most of the profit and paid fewer dividends because of the risk-averse tendencies of women directors.

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Does Board Gender Diversity Affects Dividend Payout? Evidence from a review of literature

Journal of ASIAN Behavioural Studies ◽

10.21834/jabs.v5i16.350 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (16) ◽

pp. 19-34

Author(s):

Emma Anuar ◽

Rozainun Abdul Aziz ◽

Maslinawati Mohamad ◽

Rugayah Hashim

Keyword(s):

Gender Discrimination ◽

Boards Of Directors ◽

Publishing House ◽

Gender Diversity ◽

Board Composition ◽

Corporate Boards ◽

Women Directors ◽

Dividend Payout ◽

Board Gender Diversity ◽

The Impact

The objective of this paper is to review the literature on how board gender diversity impacts dividend payout among public listed companies in Malaysia. Traditionally, higher-level management positions are held by men. Leadership and decision making are predominantly male, while the minority are women directors. When corporate boards show diversity, there is a significant presence of women or the addition of women to the board. In the past, present, and indeed the future, board gender diversity is the issue that is a growing trend and is getting more attention. The shareholders and investors are putting pressure on the boards of directors’ to show increased performance. The findings from this paper will provide evidence on whether board gender diversity influences the dividend payout. Board composition without gender discrimination is the new normal for corporations to thrive after the global lockdowns from Covid-19. Other relevant matters on the impact of board gender diversity will also be discussed.Keywords: board gender diversity; board characteristics; board composition; board traits; female directors; dividend payout; MalaysiaeISSN: 2514-7528 © 2020 The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/jabs.v5i16.350

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The impact of board gender diversity and foreign institutional investors on firm innovation: evidence from China

European Journal of Innovation Management ◽

10.1108/ejim-10-2020-0439 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Qurat Ul Ain ◽

Xianghui Yuan ◽

Hafiz Mustansar Javaid

Keyword(s):

Critical Mass ◽

Gender Diversity ◽

Manufacturing Firms ◽

Firm Innovation ◽

Content Type ◽

Foreign Institutional Investors ◽

Patent Applications ◽

Board Gender Diversity ◽

Mass Participation ◽

The Impact

PurposeThis study investigates the impact of board gender diversity and foreign ownership on innovation in Chinese firms.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use data for Chinese manufacturing firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, for a sample over the period 2008–2017. Ordinary least square (OLS) is used as the baseline methodology, with cluster OLS, two-stage Heckman test, Blau index and Shannon index used to address endogeneity issues.FindingsThe results show that gender diversity on the board has a positive effect on corporate innovation as measured by the total number of patent applications, invention patent applications, utility model patent applications and design patent applications. Our findings also provide support for the critical mass participation of female directors on the board being associated with more innovation. They also reveal that innovation output does not vary across state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and non-SOEs. These outcomes reveal that SOEs' advantages, such as easy access to funding and more support of government, are likely offset by their disadvantages, such as different goals and having more agency issues. Because of intense political power and networks in Chinese firms, qualified foreign institutional investors (QFIIs) are less motivated to enhance innovation activities.Practical implicationsThis study highlights the role of board gender diversity in enhancing innovation among Chinese manufacturing firms. Our findings provide support for regulatory bodies' role regarding women's participation on the board.Originality/valueThis research adds to literature by addressing the largely ignored questions of whether providing a gender-diverse board enhances innovation, whether critical mass participation has a greater effect on improving firm innovation and whether the influence of women directors varies with ownership structure.

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Women directors’ effect on firm value and performance: the case of REITs

Corporate Governance ◽

10.1108/cg-02-2020-0057 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (7) ◽

pp. 1265-1279

Author(s):

Magdy Noguera

Keyword(s):

Firm Value ◽

Critical Mass ◽

Gender Diversity ◽

Chief Executive ◽

Women Directors ◽

Content Type ◽

Board Of Director ◽

Sarbanes Oxley ◽

And Performance ◽

Board Gender Diversity

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the effect of women directors on US Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) value and performance. Design/methodology/approach Archival financial and board of director data for the 1999–2019 period are collected and analyzed using panel data regression analysis. Findings The main findings indicate that women directors’ presence renders a modest positive effect on REIT performance but only when they reach critical mass on REIT boards; and that women directors have no effect at all on REIT value. Additional findings indicate that women directors are more common on REIT boards after the enactment of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act but less common on boards in which the REIT founder is the chief executive officer. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first research on the effect of a gender diverse board on REIT value. It is also the first paper documenting a positive relationship between board gender diversity and REIT performance. This paper fills a research gap, as it is one of the few papers focused on gender diversity within the REITs board composition literature.

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Women in the boardroom and their impact on climate change related disclosure

Social Responsibility Journal ◽

10.1108/srj-11-2016-0208 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 828-855 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Mohammed Hossain ◽

Omar Al Farooque ◽

Mahmood Ahmed Momin ◽

Obaid Almotairy

Keyword(s):

Fixed Effects ◽

Carbon Emission ◽

Gender Diversity ◽

Data Availability ◽

Global Perspective ◽

Women Directors ◽

Board Size ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Content Type ◽

The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the relationship between gender diversity and the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) score/index. Specifically, the study describes extant research on theoretical perspectives, and the impact of women on corporate boards (WOBs) on carbon emission issues in the global perspective. Design/methodology/approach This study uses the carbon disclosure scores of the CDP from 2011 to 2013 (inclusive). A total observation for the three-year periods is 1,175 companies. However, based on data availability for the model, the sample size totals 331 companies in 33 countries with firms in 12 geographical locations. The authors used a model which is estimated using the fixed-effects estimator. Findings The outcomes of the study reveal that there is a positive relationship between gender diversity (WOB) and carbon disclosure information. In addition to establishing a relationship between CDP score and other control variables, this study also found a relationship with Board size, asset size, energy consumption and Tobin’s Q, which is common in the existing literature. Research limitations/implications The limitations of the study mostly revolve around samples and the time period. To further test the generalizability and cross-sectional validity of the outcomes, it is suggested that the proposed framework be tested in more socially responsible firms. Practical implications There are increasing pressures for WOBs from diverse stakeholders, such as the European Commission, national governments, politicians, employer lobby groups, shareholders, Fortune and Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) rankings and best places for women to work lists. The study offers insights to policy makers implementing gender quota legislation. Originality/value The study has important implications for putting into practice good corporate governance and, in particular, gender diversity. The outcomes of the analyses advocate that companies that included women directors and had a smaller board size may expect to achieve a higher level of carbon emission performance and to voluntarily disclose the level of carbon information assessment requested by the CDP.

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