Female Representation on Corporate Boards in Europe: The Interplay of Organizational Social Consciousness and Institutions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Clark ◽  
Punit Arora ◽  
Patricia Gabaldon
Keyword(s):  
Social Consciousness ◽  
Corporate Boards ◽  
Female Representation

Board gender diversity and firms' social engagement in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Jizi ◽  
Rabih Nehme ◽  
Cynthia Melhem
Keyword(s):  
Social Engagement ◽  
Generalized Least Squares ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Gulf Cooperation Council ◽  
Foreign Direct Investments ◽  
Corporate Boards ◽  
Female Representation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Gcc Countries ◽  
Thomson Reuters

PurposeThe Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries form a unique socioeconomic environment that makes the conclusions of the prior literature not likely to be applicable. GCC countries have huge oil reserves, yet they are aiming at reducing oil dependency through enhancing transparency, increasing foreign direct investments and reforming their governance structure. Their firms are mainly family owned and have low female representation in leadership positions. The study seeks to fill a literature gap by providing a business case supporting the call for gender diverse boards for better governance.Design/methodology/approachThe study examines a sample of GCC-listed firms for the years 2009–2018. Three measures are used to proxy for firm social engagement, namely, CSR strategy score, environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure score and social pillar score. To ensure whether the presence of women on board or the number of women on board is influential on social engagements, the authors use the existence of women on board and the percentage of women on board variables. Data are collected using Thomson Reuters, and generalized least squares (GLS) panel data regression is used to estimate relationships.FindingsThe authors find that female representation on GCC corporate boards is increasing, yet in a slow path. The reported results support the role of women on boards in prompting firms' social agenda and enhancing the level of sustainability reporting. The results also show that female board representation supports the implementation of climate change policy, business ethics policy and health and safety policy.Originality/valueThe paper evidence the add value of women participation on GCC corporate boards in enhancing boards' functionality and governance. The empirical findings encourage firms and policymakers in the GCC countries to increase the share of females on corporate boards to improve firms' citizenship and facilitate attracting foreign investors.

scholarly journals Women on corporate boards. The case of ’gender quotas’ in Italy

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 132-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrizia Pastore ◽  
Silvia Tommaso
Keyword(s):  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Gender Quotas ◽  
Corporate Boards ◽  
Female Representation ◽  
Upper Management ◽  
Gender Diverse ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Market Women ◽  
Substantial Progress

This paper investigates whether gender quotas have had success so far in their primary goal of reducing gender disparities in Italian corporate boards. Debate about gender equality on boards gained momentum and global prominence over the last years attracting attention of both researchers and practitioners worldwide. Despite a remarkable progress in education and their participation in the labor market, women still face large barriers to advance into upper management and boardrooms and gaps remain. Women are still under-represented in senior executive and board positions worldwide even if there is wide variation across countries. The present is a qualitative study that aims to contribute to the ongoing international debate about gender diversity on corporate boards (or lack thereof), providing current evidence from Italy, four years after the entry into force of Law 120/2011, establishing legislated quotas in order to ensure gender-balanced corporate boards. Using the samples of Italian listed companies and government-controlled companies tracked by Consob and Cerved respectively, findings show a substantial progress of female representation in Italian corporate boards (including governing and auditing boards) over the period 2008-2015 and reflect the extent to which women are shattering the glass ceiling, right before and after the implementation of the new (although controversial) gender quotas regulation. However, even though the number of women who sit on corporate boards has increased, it is necessary to ensure that the appointment of women is a board’s genuine intention to become gender diverse and more effectiveness rather than evidence of a result driven by tokenism, designed to enhance corporate reputation and image.

Female directors on corporate boards and their impact on corporate social responsibility (CSR): evidence from China

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Waqas Bin Khidmat ◽  
Muhammad Danish Habib ◽  
Sadia Awan ◽  
Kashif Raza
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Gender Diversity ◽  
State Ownership ◽  
Corporate Boards ◽  
Female Representation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Self Selection ◽  
Corporate Social

Purpose This study aims to examine the determinants of the female representations on Chinese listed firm’s boards. This study also investigates the effect of gender diversity on corporate social responsibility activities. Design/methodology/approach The Tobit regression model is used because the data is censored and using ordinary least square regression can give spurious results. For robust check, the authors also used Heckman’s (1979) two-stage self-selection model to remove the sample self-selection bias. Findings The authors find that the female representations on the corporate board are positively associated with firm age, firm performance, corporate governance, family ownership, institutional ownership and managerial ownership while negatively related to firm size and state ownership. This study also incorporates predictors of the critical mass of women on the Chinese listed firm’s board. The study also tests the female-led hypothesis and concludes that the female representation increases in firms with female chief executive officer (CEO) or female chairpersons. The Chinese listed firms with gender-diverse board are socially responsible. Research limitations/implications The importance of diversity in corporate boards has been demonstrated in light of the agency theory and the resource dependence framework. The results contribute to the previous literature by documenting the determinants of female representations on board, robust by alternative measures of gender diversity, firm size, corporate governance and estimation techniques. Practical implications The economic significance of gender diversity stirred the firms to increase female representation. The policymakers can understand the reasons for female underrepresentation in Chinese boards and can reform the regulation to enhance governance quality, non-state ownership and risk aversion among the listed firms. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence on the key predictor of the world’s largest emerging economy, specifically the study focuses on the firm specific determinants, different governance attributes, ownership structure and firm risk measures. This study also seeks to answer if the presence of a female in the Chairperson or CEO position encourages the firms to hire more female directors or not?

Gender Differences in Executive Compensation on British Corporate Boards: the Role of Conditional Conservatism

2020 ◽  
Vol 55 (01) ◽  
pp. 2050002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Habiba Al-Shaer ◽  
Mostafa Harakeh
Keyword(s):  
Executive Compensation ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Potential Effect ◽  
Corporate Boards ◽  
Female Representation ◽  
Equity Compensation ◽  
Conditional Conservatism ◽  
Women On Boards ◽  
Reported Earnings ◽  
Executive Level

We exploit the effectiveness of the [ Davies Report ( 2011 ). Women on Boards. London: Department for Business, Innovation & Skills], which urged FTSE 350 companies to increase female representation on corporate boards, to examine the potential effect that this may have on the gender pay differential at the executive level. To this end, we employ a multivariate regression and a difference-in-differences approach that compare executive compensation between all-male executive boards and boards with at least one female executive. Using a sample of FTSE 350 companies that spans the period 2008–2015, we find that differential executive compensation exists in bonus and equity compensation following the Davies Report ( 2011 ). Given that the differential compensation exists in the components primarily determined by the firm’s reported earnings and that female directors are prone to exhibit higher conditional conservatism in their financial reporting, we examine whether the firm’s financial reporting practice plays a role in determining the differential executive compensation. Our investigation reveals that the presence of female executive directors on the board makes the effect of conditional conservatism more prominent, resulting in lower bonus and equity-based compensation.

scholarly journals Do countries with different cultural, social and religious backgrounds behave the same way concerning women’s representation on corporate boards?

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-264
Author(s):  
Gonca Gungor Goksu ◽  
Maria Luisa Esteban Salvador
Keyword(s):  
Boards Of Directors ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Corporate Boards ◽  
Female Representation ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Values And Beliefs ◽  
Using Data ◽  
New Evidence

This study focuses on female representation on corporate boards in Turkey and Spain, two countries in which clear differences exist in social, cultural and religious contexts. Using data from the most influential companies in the two states, we have investigated the presence of women in the boardrooms in 2014. We present new evidence on the comparison of outcomes of women’s participation on boards. Results show differences in the involvement of women on the boards of major companies in Turkey and Spain. Statistical analysis suggests that the presence of women on the most powerful boards of directors of Spanish companies is higher than that of Turkish companies, and there are statistically significant differences between the two countries. This article offers insights to policy makers interested in analysing whether differences, values and beliefs between countries could influence the role of women in the decision-making process of the upper echelons of business. Keywords: Turkey, Spain, board of directors, female directors, corporate governance.  

Independent board, gender diversity and bank performance in Nigeria: a system-GMM approach

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chinwe Okoyeuzu ◽  
Augustine Ujunwa ◽  
Angela Ifeanyi Ujunwa ◽  
Emmanuel Onyebuchi Onah
Keyword(s):  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Bank Performance ◽  
Board Independence ◽  
Annual Data ◽  
Corporate Boards ◽  
Female Representation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Board Gender Diversity ◽  
Negative Predictor

Purpose This study aims to examine the effects of board independence and gender diversity on bank performance in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach The two-step system-generalized method moment was used to estimate the effect of board independence and gender diversity on bank performance in Nigeria using annual data of 15 deposit money banks from 2006 to 2018. Findings The results revealed that gender diversity is a significant positive predictor of bank performance, whereas board independence is a negative predictor of bank performance in Nigeria. Practical implications Despite the significant positive relationship between gender diversity and bank performance, this paper does not recommend mandatory quota-based initiates of female representation on corporate boards because of the increasing number of female representations on corporate boards of banks in Nigeria. Originality/value The study contributes to corporate governance literature from developing country perspective and policy, particularly, on the relevance or otherwise of market-based measures in assessing bank performance in developing counties. This paper finds that market-based variables are not good measures of firm performance in economies with underdeveloped markets.

scholarly journals Quality of Life and Women’s Descriptive Representation: Female Emergence and Success in the 2018 Czech Local Elections

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-43
Author(s):  
Pavel Maškarinec
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Descriptive Representation ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Corporate Boards ◽  
Female Representation ◽  
Female Candidates ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Local Party

The aim of this paper is to analyse the effect of quality of life, together with other factors, on female candidates̕ willingness to run for office and women’s descriptive representation in the 2018 Czech local elections. We found that the effect of some variables was different in the case of women’s emergence and success. While the share of female candidates was higher in larger cities with lower quality of life and less nationalized local party systems, women were much more successful in smaller cities with lower quality of life, less nationalized local party systems and a more strongly gendered context in the sense of previous female representation, both in city councils and on corporate boards of firms owned by the city. While the positive effect of size on women’s emergence can be explained with the larger city’s context which generates more access points for emergence of women candidates, the negative effect of size on women’s success was due to the desirability of office effect. Furthermore, the very small effect of previous female representation on the share of female candidates can be explained by the existence of an incumbency effect, which may also underlie the different influence of the representation of women in municipally-owned firms’ management. Finally, the negative effect of quality of life (at the level of both candidacy and representation) can also be linked with the desirability hypothesis. The drive to win representation and make decisions about the life of the community can be expected to be much stronger in municipalities with higher quality of life.

scholarly journals Boards’ Gender Diversity and Firms’ Financial and Ethical Performance in Pakistan: A Comparative Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 255
Author(s):  
Hafiz Muhammad Awais ◽  
Dr. Danish Ahmed Siddiqui
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Performance Measures ◽  
Firm Value ◽  
Financial Risk ◽  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Corporate Boards ◽  
Female Representation ◽  
Board Diversity ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Board Gender Diversity

Board diversity has lately being a heavily contested topic of research. Women, having a unique pool of resources and human capital, bring unique and diverse skills to the board that could improve board performance which positively impacts firm value. This study aims to investigate board gender diversity and its impact on firms’ performance in Pakistan. More specifically, this study compares different performance characteristic of firms with and without gender diversity in boards. We also analyzed the effect of women on board (WOB) on different performance measures in the presence of control variables. These measures included Return to assets, equity and sales, TOBIN Q, and Ethical and Social Compliance (ESCC). For this, panel data of 4 years from 2015 to 2018 were collected from 100 companies, and ANOVA and regression analysis were performed. The comparative analysis showed that non-women component has a significantly higher ROA than women, whereas ROE is higher for women. Moreover, non-women board companies seem to take a higher financial risk by taking more leverage. Surprisingly, the ESCC factor seems to be significantly higher for non-women board companies showing better social compliance. Evidence from regression found remains inconclusive. In fact, the performance measures like Tobin Q, and ROA seems to be negatively affected by WOB, whereas ROE was positively and significantly affected. ESCC seems to have a strong and positive effect on Tobin Q in companies with WOB, as well as ROA in overall companies. Evidence also suggested that WOB also seems to have a negative effect on ESCC. Hence, in the case of Pakistan, the findings remained inconclusive because women representation on board is not enough to have an influencing role in the board. The size of the female representation on the board needs to be sufficiently large to have an influencing role on corporate boards.

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