Killing two birds with one stone: gender diversity, information disclosures and financial distress
Abstract
Purpose
The escalating instances of financial distress (FD) in corporate houses across the globe, call for immediate attention from policymakers, practitioners and academics equally. This study aims to examine how board gender diversity (GD) and information disclosures (ID) interact with each other to drive FD.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors apply dynamic panel data analysis on a sample of 255 Indian-listed firms from 2016 to 2023 to arrive at the econometric results.
Findings
The main findings indicate that while ID exacerbates distress, GD reduces it. In addition, GD also interacts with ID to curtail the adverse effects of disclosures on FD. Therefore, GD acts like a stone that kills two birds simultaneously, first by reducing the distress directly and second by limiting the negative effects of disclosures on distress.
Originality/value
This study extends the understanding of the implications of GD and complements existing research by investigating its direct and indirect impact on FD. It builds on the analysis to propose that GD can foster resilience against adverse FD situations. The findings should apply to other emerging nations after careful consideration of country-specific factors.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the journal, its respected editors and editorial team and the Emerald publishing team for their support. The authors also acknowledge Ms. Megha Jaiwani, research scholar at Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune, for support in some portions of data collection.
Citation
Singh, K. and Arora, A. (2024), "Killing two birds with one stone: gender diversity, information disclosures and financial distress", Social Responsibility Journal, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/SRJ-01-2024-0064
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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