The Role of Women in the Italian Network of Boards of Directors, 2003-2010

Abstract

We use a new dataset composed of Italian listed firms to analyze the network of women in boards, and to evaluate their effect on company value and performance. In particular, we use Social Network Analysis to analyze the growth of the female directorship network. We find that interlocking directorate has a negative impact on equity value and firm performance, which is consistent with economic theory and previous literature findings. Furthermore, female interlocking directorship has no effect on firm value and performance, possibly because extraction of private benefit of control is gender-neutral.

Keywords: Corporate Governance, Interlocking Directorships, Company Performance, Social Network Analysis, Board Diversity

JEL Classification: C14, C23, G34, L14, M21