Do Tourism Firms with Female CEOs Hold Higher Levels of Cash?

Abstract

Using data over a ten-year period from the Finnish tourism sector comprising more than 15 000 firm-year observations, as well as various models, this paper studies whether firms with a female CEO (Chief Executive Officer) hold a larger level of cash than those with a male CEO. The study controls for various firm characteristics, such as size, growth opportunities, profitability, leverage and debt structure, as well as the size of the board of directors and age of the CEO. It is hypothesized that firms run by female managers tend to have larger cash balances. In line with the hypothesis, the results indicated such firms hold significantly larger levels of cash than those run by men. The study also demonstrates that the proportion of firms with female CEOs among Finnish tourism enterprises somewhat increased during the sample period.

Keywords: Cash holdings, Gender, Corporate governance, Tourism business

JEL Classification: D22, G32, G34, L83