Community Values, Female Board Representation, and Firm Performance: The Role of Religion and Politics

34 Pages Posted: 14 Jan 2022 Last revised: 12 Sep 2022

See all articles by David Carter

David Carter

Oklahoma State University - Stillwater - Department of Finance

Corey A. Shank

Miami University

Date Written: September 11, 2022

Abstract

We investigate the effect of the community values surrounding a firm’s headquarters on the percentage of women on a firm’s board of directors. We use religiosity and political affiliation measures to capture the values associated with the community norms. We find that firms headquartered in counties with lower religiosity and a lower percentage of Republican voters are more likely to have a greater number of female board members. Furthermore, firms with more female directors located in more Republican cities or more religious cities are more likely to have lower valuations, as measured by Tobin’s Q and the market-to-book ratio. These results have implications for corporate culture and the supply of female directors.

Keywords: Gender Board Diversity, Social Capital, Religion, Politics, Firm Performance

JEL Classification: G30, M14

Suggested Citation

Carter, David A. and Shank, Corey, Community Values, Female Board Representation, and Firm Performance: The Role of Religion and Politics (September 11, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4008549 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4008549

David A. Carter

Oklahoma State University - Stillwater - Department of Finance ( email )

Spears School of Business
Stillwater, OK 74078-4011
United States
405-744-5104 (Phone)
405-744-5180 (Fax)

Corey Shank (Contact Author)

Miami University ( email )

Oxford, OH 45056
United States

HOME PAGE: http://coreyshank.com

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