Boardroom Gender Diversity and Long-Term Firm Performance
International Journal of Disclosure and Governance (Forthcoming)
Posted: 1 May 2021
Date Written: March 1, 2021
Abstract
In this research study, we seek to examine whether US public companies with gender diverse boards report better long-term, non-financial and financial performance. Using observations from 2003 to 2012, we find that gender diversity on corporate boards has a more positive impact on a firm’s non-financial performance after controlling for the simultaneous effects of board characteristics. However, using the same model for financial performance, our findings are mixed—a positive impact on accounting measure, no impact on market measures but mixed impact on Tobin’s Q. Our findings have policy implications for regulators globally seeking to mandate gender diversity in corporate boardrooms.
Keywords: Board Composition, Board of Director Mechanisms, Agency Theory, Corporate Governance Theories, Corporate Financial Performance, Firm-level Governance Outcomes, Archival Data, Quantitative Data, Traditional Analysis (e.g. regression, ANOVA).
JEL Classification: G3, G34, G38
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation