The Gender Composition of Corporate Boards and Firm Performance

Abstract

The aim of our study is to explore the nexus between the gender composition of board and firm financial performance. We use the data of 114 listed banks from 10 Asian emerging economies. Data were extracted from the DataStream for the year 2012–2021. We apply fixed effect model to analyze the data. In addition, we use generalized method of moments (GMM) to verify our main findings. We find that both proxies of board gender composition which are the proportion of female board members and the percentage of female executives on the board have a significant impact on banks' financial performance. Findings suggest that female representation on board provides more insights of monitoring and optimal advisory capabilities and, therefore, gender-diversified board enhances firm performance. Females are more active in business matters and take more interests to fulfill their responsibilities. The results of our study provide useful signals for corporate and regulatory policymakers. Board gender disparities between enterprises should be better understood by all stakeholders to have the optimal combination of board members that ultimately lead to better performance of the firm.

Citation

Mujtaba, M.U., Abbassi, W. and Mehmood, R. (2024), "The Gender Composition of Corporate Boards and Firm Performance", Hunjra, A.I. and Hussainey, K. (Ed.) The Emerald Handbook of Ethical Finance and Corporate Social Responsibility, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 305-327. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80455-406-720241013