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The impact of social norms on female corporate board membership inclusion

Michaël Dewally (Department of Finance, Towson University, Towson, Maryland, USA)
Susan M.V. Flaherty (Department of Finance, Towson University, Towson, Maryland, USA)
Stella Tomasi (Department of e-Business and Technology Management, Towson University, Towson, Maryland, USA)

Managerial Finance

ISSN: 0307-4358

Article publication date: 9 October 2017

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to document that religious adherence in the county of the corporate headquarter and educational attainment of the female director pool near the firm headquarters are influential to the likely addition of female corporate board directors.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample covers 1,630 unique firms and 30,369 unique directors covering a ten-year period to investigate the effects of religiosity and educational attainment.

Findings

The analysis reveals that while the number of women has increased in general terms, this change is mostly limited to boards that are increasing in size. Women do not tend to replace exiting male board members but are appointed when the board size grows. Therefore, while the number of women is increasing in absolute terms, they are not increasing in relative terms. In areas where religiosity is high, as measured by church affiliation and attendance, female participation in the boardroom is lower and a more educated and qualified female population leads to higher board participation. These effects supersede any regional effects.

Originality/value

The study adds insights into corporate board dynamic, providing new evidence concerning the impact of local conditions on board composition as well as additional information concerning the interplay of board dynamics and female board representation.

Keywords

Citation

Dewally, M., Flaherty, S.M.V. and Tomasi, S. (2017), "The impact of social norms on female corporate board membership inclusion", Managerial Finance, Vol. 43 No. 10, pp. 1093-1116. https://doi.org/10.1108/MF-06-2015-0182

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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