Search results

This study investigates the relationship between CEO leadership, gender homophily and corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. We also investigate whether it is essential to have a critical mass of women directors on the board to create a significant power of gender diversity in leadership positions.

Our study is based on firms listed on the London Stock Exchange (FTSE-All-Share) from 2011 to 2019. CEO characteristics and other board variables were collected from BoardEx, and ESG data, and other related variables were collected from Eikon database.

We find a critical mass of female directors contributes to ESG performance suggesting that token representation of female directors on boards limits their effectiveness. We do not find support for the gender homophily perspective, our findings suggest that the effectiveness of female CEOs does not depend on the existence of a critical mass of female directors. Female directors and female CEOs are less likely to be associated with ESG activities when firms experience poor financial performance. We also find that younger female CEOs have a positive impact on ESG performance. Furthermore, we find female CEOs with shorter tenure are more likely to improve ESG performance. Overall, our findings suggest a substitutional effect between having female CEOs and gender diverse boards.

This study contributes to the debate on gender homophily in the boardroom and how that may affect ESG practices. It also complements existing academic research on female leadership and ESG performance and has important implications for senior management and policymakers.

Content analysis was used to measure corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting. The ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions with robust standard errors are used to examine the relationships for a sample of 168 firm-year observations listed on the Palestine Exchange during 2018–2021. A logistic regression is also utilized as an alternative measurement for CSR quantity disclosure and to ensure the robustness of the author’s main findings.

Based on 168 observations listed on the Palestine Exchange (PEX) between 2018 and 2021, this study examines the impact of women's representation on the CSR reporting of Palestinian firms' boards. Moreover, the moderating effect of ownership concentration on the relationship between BGD and CSR reporting is examined. In order to test the hypotheses, the author’s employ OLS regressions with robust standard errors. A logistic regression is also utilized as an alternative measurement for CSR quantity disclosure and to ensure the robustness of the author’s main findings.

The results reveal that Palestinian companies with more women on their boards have higher CSR practices and disclosure levels. In addition to the validity of agency, stakeholder and legitimacy theories, the findings show the relevance of gender socialization and critical mass theories in explaining the favorable influence of women's presentation on boards in promoting best practices among Palestinian firms, such as CSR disclosure.

The study contributes to the limited literature in the MENA and Arab region countries by examining the influence of BGD on CSR reporting in Palestine, an emerging economy characterized by highly political and economic instability. The study offers a novel contribution by examining the impact of BGD, on not only the CSR reporting quantity but also the reporting quality. However, the generalizability of the study is limited due to the small sample size.

The findings of the study may bring the issues of CSR disclosure and female representation on board of directors to the attention of Palestinian firms' board of directors and managers, investors, professional associations, policymakers and regulators. While listed firms are only required to provide general information that falls under the scope of CSR in their annual reports under the Palestinian code of corporate governance, women representation on boards of directors is not addressed.

This study adds to the very limited literature on the role of the BGD in promoting CSR reporting in the Middle Eastern and Arabic markets in general, and in the Palestinian context in particular. This paper not only investigates but also seeks to theorize this role.

This paper aims to examine whether female representation on boards is significantly associated with audit fees paid by top Egyptian listed companies.

The authors collect data on audit fees, board of directors' characteristics and financial data for the top 100 companies listed on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX100) for a period of six years. The authors employ an ordinary least squares regression model to capture the relationship between board diversity (i.e. the proportion of female board directors) and the natural logarithm of audit fees while controlling for firm and industry fixed effects as well as other known firm characteristics.

The authors find that audit fees are significantly associated with the proportion of females serving on firms' boards of directors. The findings suggest a complementary relationship between females on boards, as a quality-enhancing board attribute; and audit fees, as a proxy for audit effort and audit quality.

Limitations of this study arise first from the relatively small sample size, and second from the fact that inferences may be specific to the Egyptian context and similar markets.

The results have important implications for Egyptian policy makers and regulators in terms of board composition.

This study provides empirical evidence that further enforces the business case for women's empowerment and the impact of this on the effectiveness of corporate governance.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first archival study to examine the association between female board representation and audit fees in Egypt.

This study aims to examine how woman corporate leadership indicators and environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure in listed banks on Ghana Stock Exchange are related.

Data was obtained from the audited annual reports of the banks for the period 2006–2020. Empirical result estimation was achieved using Panel Corrected Standard Errors.

The result revealed that female chief executive officer (CEO), female board chairperson and board gender diversity are associated with higher disclosure of ESG issues in listed banks in Ghana in overall terms. However, in terms of individual disclosures, female board chairperson positively impacts social disclosure, whereas both female CEO and female board chairperson affect governance disclosure positively.

In this era of business where there is much emphasis on green business and investment by various stakeholders for purposes of ensuring business legitimacy, the result implies that banks must consider females to occupy the positions of CEO and board chairperson since that can help to improve ESG performance of banks.

In this era of business where there is much emphasis on green business, socially responsible investment and impact investment by various stakeholders, the result implies that banks must consider improving the representation of women in leadership since that can help to improve ESG performance of banks and hence ability to attract more investors.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to provide empirical evidence from a developing country perspective in Sub-Saharan Africa that gender of bank leadership has implications for ESG disclosure.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of board gender diversity on corporate social performance (CSP) in Brazilian companies.

This research collected available information on the CSP, financial performance and governance of Brazilian companies for five years (2016–2020). The dependent variable of this study is CSP (workforce, human rights, community and respect for the product). The independent variable is gender diversity. The authors control financial performance, the presence of a social responsibility committee and the industry sector. The data were analyzed using the dynamic panel data system, which is the generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator.

This empirical investigation confirmed the hypothesis that the female presence on boards has a positive effect on the CSP of Brazilian companies. The findings of this study are consistent with previous studies. The authors' results suggest that women are more socially aware and exhibit more social corporate behavior.

Supplementing financial reports with nonfinancial information draws the attention of regulators and shareholders. Companies can also create human resources policies for appointing women to senior management positions and a succession plan that values the talent that women bring to companies.

A critical mass of women on the board can provide an effective balance, considering the diversity of backgrounds and experiences between men and women. Just one woman on the board can mean representation and resistance, but with a critical amount, female directors can have a voice and help formulate strategies aimed at CSP.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between gender diversity and the risk profile of 141 listed banks from 14 emerging countries over the period of 2012–2020. Specifically, this study investigates whether the relationship between gender diversity and banking risk varies between Islamic banks and conventional banks, both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The second aim is to investigate whether COVID-19 health crisis moderates the effect of gender diversity on banks’ risk-taking behavior within a dual banking system.

This study derives its theoretical foundation from both the token theory and the critical mass theory. Both fixed and random effects are combined to examine the relationship between gender diversity and bank risk-taking in emerging countries.

The results show that female presence on the board of directors reduces banks' financial risk. However, the presence of women continues to positively affect the capital adequacy ratio of large banks. The results also show that the presence of at least two female directors significantly reduces banking risk. The findings support the expectations of the token and critical mass theories. In addition, the presence of female board members, per se, does not influence the risk-taking behavior of Islamic banks. Finally, this study demonstrates that the moderating role of the COVID-19 health crisis is only more effective for large banks than for small ones. The analyses demonstrate good reliability and robustness of the findings of this study.

The study provides novel insights for policymakers and practitioners on how female directors impact banks’ risk-taking behavior in dual-banking countries. It also contributes to the debate on gender diversity and corporate governance literature, which can help in monitoring bank risk-taking and improving financial stability.

This study presents new evidence about the importance of board gender diversity for bank risk-taking in a dual banking system by considering the moderating influence of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study also contributes to the literature on bank risk-taking by applying two measures of gender diversity and a critical mass of women on boards.

This paper aims to examine the impact of board gender diversity (BOGD) following the adoption of gender quota legislation on earnings management (EM) in an emerging market, Egypt, whose cultural and economic conditions and institutional context are unlike most previously studied countries’ context.

The authors use ordinary least squares (OLS) regression to estimate the impact of gender quota legislation on EM using data from listed companies in Egypt from 2015 to 2022. Difference-in-difference (DID) approach estimation was used to validate the robustness of the main results.

This paper documents that gender diversity on boards has a significantly negative impact on EM. In addition, this paper provides robust evidence using the DID approach to show that BOGD is significantly negatively linked with EM for the period following gender quota legislation. Furthermore, the results support the critical mass and agency theories.

The findings of this study have important implications for Egyptian companies, regulatory bodies and investors in emerging markets. Specifically, these results suggest that when choosing board members, enterprises should pay particular attention to BOGD, and female involvement in all listed firms should be monitored by regulators.

This paper provides evidence supporting the positive contribution of women in society by enhancing the economic performance of Egyptian firms and promoting the country’s sustainable development strategy in light of Egypt vision 2030.

As per the authors' knowledge, this empirical study is unique in investigating the impact of BOGD quota regulation on EM in Egypt. This paper contributes to BOGD as a major factor in improving financial reporting quality in Egyptian companies.

This paper aims to explore the effect of female’s presence in corporate governance structures to reduce agency conflicts, using a quantile regression approach.

The research investigates the relationship between company performance and boardroom gender diversity using quantile regression methods. The study uses annual data of 111 companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange from 2010 to 2020.

The study reveals that women on the board impact firm return on assets and enterprise value, varying across performance distribution. This contrasts fixed effect findings but aligns with two-stage least squares. However, quantile regression indicates that female executives and independent non-executive directors have notably negative impacts in high and low-performing companies, highlighting non-uniformity in the board gender diversity effect compared with previous assumptions.

The empirical findings suggest that companies with no women directors on the board are generally more likely to experience a decrease in performance and enterprise value relative to companies with women directors on the board. As recommended through the King Code of Corporate Governance, it is thus valuable to companies to ensure gender diversity on the board of directors.

The research confirms through rigorous statistical analyses that corporate governance policies, principles and guidelines should include gender diversity as a requirement for a board of directors.

The authors investigate the adoption of nomination committees in Australia and identify the managerial power perspective as one explanation for firms not establishing nomination committees. A positive outcome of establishing a nomination committee from the perspective of board diversity is also examined.

The authors adopt an archival approach by collecting data for firms listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) during the period 2010 to 2018. The authors establish the prevalence of nomination committees for small medium and large Australian firms. Regression analyses are used to determine whether the power of the chief executive officer (CEO) influences the adoption of a nomination committee. The association between having nomination committee and board diversity is also analyzed using regression analyses.

Less than half of firms adopt a nomination committee. Larger firms are more likely to adopt a nomination committee than medium and smaller sized firms. Firms with less powerful CEOs are more likely to adopt a nomination committee. Adoption of a nomination committee is also associated with greater board tenure dispersion and board gender diversity in medium and smaller sized firms.

Evidence on nomination committees provides original research that extends previous research focusing on the audit, risk and remuneration committees and samples restricted to large firms. The nomination committee has an important role to play in the appointment of directors yet limited evidence exists of the adoption rate, explanation for non-adoption and benefits of adoption. The authors add to this evidence.

This study aims to highlight the impact of introducing women directors to board committees, thereby empowering them to contribute to decision-making, and as a result, influence firms’ financial performance in an emerging economy.

This study uses a fixed-effects panel data regression model to test the impact of gender diversity on corporate boards as well as board committees on firms’ financial performance. Two widely used diversity measures, the Blau index and the Shannon index, have been used to enhance the robustness of the results.

The findings suggest that gender diversity on prominent board committees (remuneration committee and nomination committee) positively affects firms’ financial performance when measured by the market-based performance measure, but it is insignificant when measured through accounting-based performance indicator. Furthermore, the benefits of gender diversity accrue to the firms only when women are part of prominent committees and are engaged in governance mechanisms, rather than just being appointed on corporate boards as a means of tokenism.

This study is among the first to investigate the relationship between gender diversity and financial performance through the lens of committee assignments. Moreover, the unique cultural and institutional setting offered by India, which is an emerging economy, provides a fertile ground for understanding the role of women leaders in the workforce.