Golf Buddies and Board Diversity

17 Pages Posted: 13 Dec 2015

See all articles by Sumit Agarwal

Sumit Agarwal

National University of Singapore

Wenlan Qian

National University of Singapore - NUS Business School

David M. Reeb

National University of Singapore - Dept of Accounting

Tien Foo Sing

National University of Singapore (NUS) - Department of Real Estate

Date Written: December 12, 2015

Abstract

We study the participation of women in golf, a predominately male social activity, and its influence on their likelihood of serving on a board of directors. Exploiting a novel dataset of all golf games in Singapore, we find that woman golfers enjoy a 54% higher likelihood of serving on a board relative to male golfers. A woman's probability of serving on the board in a large firm or in a predominately male industry increases by 117% to 125% when she plays golf. In summary, our results suggest that "playing the boys game" facilitates women's directorships in publicly-traded firms.

Keywords: Board of Directors, Golf, Gender, Board Diversity

Suggested Citation

Agarwal, Sumit and Qian, Wenlan and Reeb, David M. and Sing, Tien Foo, Golf Buddies and Board Diversity (December 12, 2015). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2702742 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2702742

Sumit Agarwal

National University of Singapore ( email )

15 Kent Ridge Drive
Singapore, 117592
Singapore
8118 9025 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.ushakrisna.com

Wenlan Qian (Contact Author)

National University of Singapore - NUS Business School ( email )

15 Kent Ridge Drive
Singapore 117592, 119245
Singapore
(65) 65163015 (Phone)

David M. Reeb

National University of Singapore - Dept of Accounting ( email )

Mochtar Riady Building
15 Kent Ridge Drive
Singapore, 119245
Singapore

HOME PAGE: http://www.davidreeb.net

Tien Foo Sing

National University of Singapore (NUS) - Department of Real Estate ( email )

4 Architecture Drive
Singapore 117566
Singapore

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