Female Leaders and Financial Inclusion. Evidence from Microfinance Institutions

43 Pages Posted: 25 Feb 2016 Last revised: 14 Mar 2016

See all articles by R. Øystein Strøm

R. Øystein Strøm

OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University

Bert D'Espallier

Catholic University of Louvain (UCL) - Lessius University College; Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel (HUBrussel)

Roy Mersland

University of Agder

Date Written: February 24, 2016

Abstract

This research advances the hypothesis that female leaders (CEO, chair, and director) of a microfinance institution (MFI) give more priority to the poorest families in loan provision than male leaders. We differentiate between a depth and a width dimension of financial inclusion. The data set is a unique global panel of MFIs collected from MFI raters’ reports. Our sample is also unique in the sense that about one third of all MFIs have a female CEO. The problem of endogeneity for the female leader is resolved by running Heckman’s two-step endogenous dummy variable estimation with instrument for the female leader. We find evidence for greater depth financial inclusion (smaller average loan, more gender biased) with a female leader, but not for width financial inclusion (credit client growth). The female leaders exhibit greater altruism, greater competition avoidance, but not greater risk aversion than male peers.

Keywords: Female leadership, Financial access, Microfinance institutions, Cross-country panel data

JEL Classification: G34, M12, M14

Suggested Citation

Strøm, Reidar Øystein and D'Espallier, Bert and D'Espallier, Bert and Mersland, Roy, Female Leaders and Financial Inclusion. Evidence from Microfinance Institutions (February 24, 2016). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2737287 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2737287

Reidar Øystein Strøm (Contact Author)

OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University ( email )

P.O. Box 4
Oslo, 0130
Norway
+47 97968500 (Phone)

Bert D'Espallier

Catholic University of Louvain (UCL) - Lessius University College ( email )

Department of Business Studies
Korte Nieuwstraat 33
Antwerp, 2000
Belgium

Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel (HUBrussel) ( email )

Stormstraat 2
Brussels, 1000
Belgium

Roy Mersland

University of Agder ( email )

Serviceboks 422
N-4604 Kristiansand, VEST AGDER 4604
Norway

HOME PAGE: http://www.uia.no/microfinance

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
243
Abstract Views
1,915
Rank
201,770
PlumX Metrics