Download This PaperBoard Diversity and Shareholder Voting
Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University Working Paper No. 245
Stanford University Graduate School of Business Research Paper No. 3915
European Corporate Governance Institute – Finance Working Paper 716/2020
58 Pages Posted: 18 Nov 2020 Last revised: 27 Aug 2021
Date Written: November 18, 2020
Abstract
The lack of board diversity across gender and race has been one of the most controversial topics in corporate board governance in recent years. Given the central role that shareholders have in approving director appointments, we investigate whether shareholders value diversity on corporate boards by analyzing their voting patterns in director elections. Despite many shareholders’ public commitments of supporting board diversity, we show that shareholders have not historically been proactive in using their votes to motivate companies to increase diversity among corporate boards. This finding persists over time and across key shareholders who have been some of the most outspoken proponents of board diversity.
Keywords: Board of directors; Diversity; Shareholder voting; Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)
JEL Classification: G30, G34, G23, M14, J71
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
David F. Larcker
Stanford University - Graduate School of Business ( email )
Graduate School of Business
518 Memorial Way
Stanford, CA 94305-5015
United States
650-725-6159 (Phone)
Stanford University - Arthur & Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance ( email )
Crown Quadrangle 559 Nathan Ab
Stanford, CA 94305-8610
United States
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