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Few studies have examined how the age of a firm can influence its economic performance over time. This study fills that gap by examining this issue from a large and unique sample of Vietnamese list...

Drawing from a sample of French companies that made up the SBF 120 index over the period 2006–2010 (before the enactment of the Cope–Zimmermann law on gender quotas on boards), this paper investigates the relationship between board gender diversity and firm risk-taking (measured by the variability of the return on assets). Using a generalized method of moments estimation, no evidence is found to support the assumption of a significant relationship between women on corporate boards and firm risk-taking. These results potentially can be relevant for policy makers and academic research.

Numerous empirical studies have been conducted to analyze the impact of board gender diversity (BGD) on firm performance without being able to establish a clear relationship. In this paper, we reassess the relationship between BGD and firm performance by using a quantile regression approach. Our results indicate that BGD matters only across a subset of the firm performance distribution. Moreover, when the possible endogeneity of the relationship between BGD and firm performance is taken into account, there are some conditions under which a positive and significant relationship is observed for the eight lowest quantiles.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between corporate debt-like compensation and the value of excess cash holdings.Design/methodology/approachThe environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure score provided by Bloomberg is used as a proxy for the extent of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The empirical analysis is based on a sample of 379 firms that made up the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index over the period 2010-2015. In order to take into account the endogeneity problem between board gender diversity and ESG disclosure, a fixed effect model with lagged board variables is used.FindingsTwo main results arise from this study. First, no significant relationship is found between board gender diversity and ESG disclosure. Second, the evidence also partially confirms critical mass theory, as below three female directors the relationship between board gender diversity and ESG disclosure is not statistically significant. However, beyond that, no significant relationship was found.Research limitations/implicationsReasonable theoretical arguments drawn from stakeholder theory suggest that board gender diversity may have a positive effect on ESG disclosure. The empirical evidence presented neither supports, nor denies stakeholder theory. However, the results may be improved by enlarging the frontiers of this research in time and space, increasing the perimeter of qualitative data integrated in this investigation.Practical implicationsThis paper offers theoretical and empirical arguments for the feminization of corporate boards, not only in the name of equality between women and men and organizational justice, but also in the light of organizational performance (examined through the prism of governance). Transparency, analyzed using the proxy of ESG disclosure, is strongly and positively correlated with a feminization of boards, if the proportion of women is significant and sufficient to be able to prevent and surpass the “invisibilization” phenomenon, which is based on the marginalization of passive ultra-minorities, reduction to silence, marginalization (disqualification of women voice or exit strategy), assimilation or the endorsement of stigma.Originality/valueFirst, this makes a theoretical contribution to the diversity and governance literature by examining the effect of WOCB on ESG disclosure through the stakeholder theory (Freeman, 2010). Second, the authors contribute to the CSR literature (cf. Byron and Post, 2016) by documenting specifically the effect of board gender diversity on CSR disclosures through ESG. Indeed, ESG research mainly concentrates on firm financial performance (Galbreath, 2013). No study has examined the relationship between WOCB and ESG disclosure. Finally, from an empirical standpoint, an FE model with lagged board variables (Liuet al., 2014) is used to fully address the endogeneity problems in the relationship between WOCB and ESG disclosure that may occur because of differences in unobservable characteristics across firms or reverse causality (Boulouta, 2013).

In the contemporary business world, the diversity of boards in terms of gender has been examined by many researchers and those responsible for public policy. Although many studies have assessed the correlation between how a company performs financially and the gender diversity of its board, this research has tended to focus on larger companies and the results have been inconclusive. This paper will re-examine key elements of the existing discourse by focusing on a selection of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in France between 2009 and 2014. Panel data and the two-stage least squares (2SLS) methodology was employed to assert empirical control over both the significance and direction of the correlation between the financial performance of an organisation and the diversity of its board. Unlike the literature, in our study of French SMEs, we found no notable correlation between how a company performs financially and how diverse its board is in terms of gender. This paper will examine the benefits firms can access by ensuring the gender diversity of their respective boards.

Based on the resource dependency theory, this article investigates the relationships among board gender diversity, innovation, and firm performance. Specifically, this article examines the mediating role of innovation, which may explain how board gender diversity is related to firm performance. Using a sample of 120 SBF companies from 2009 to 2012, the results indicate a negative effect of board gender diversity on innovation. In addition, we do not find evidence of a mediating role of innovation within the board gender diversity-firm performance relationship.

n this article, we conduct a longitudinal study of womens progress on French corporate boards of directors. We particularly focus on the extent to which women directors have circumvented the glass ceiling. Using a sample of SBF 120 companies over a 10-year period from 2000 to 2009, our results provide evidence of a significant increase in the number of women on French corporate boards. However, the corporate glass ceiling hypothesis is consistently rejected whatever the considered measure of female directors; i.e., the number of board seats held by women, the number of firms with a critical mass of female directors, and the number of directorships held by each women director.

International audience; Previous studies have found inconclusive results regarding the effects of board gender diversity on firm financial performance. This paper tackles this issue in the context of the French listed firms over the 2009-2011 period. Our results show evidence of a negative and significant effect of the percentage of female directors on financial firm performance. This suggests that adding more women in an indiscriminate fashion to boards of directors may be counter-productive and leads to lower firm performance. The effect on firm performance is, however, insignificant when the presence of women on corporate boards is measured using a dummy variable. We also document that accounting for the endogeneity issue is crucial to assess the nature of the relation between the variables under consideration.

In recent years, gender diversity in the boardroom and more generally within organizations, has gained considerable interest in public debate, academic research, government agenda, and corporate strategy. Previously considered as a social issue, gender diversity on boards of directors is increasingly perceived as a value-driver in organizational strategy and corporate governance for several reasons (Terjesen, Sealy and Singh, 2009). Firstly, as institutional investors begin to take into account board diversity, this matter progressively becomes part of their investment practices (Carter, Simkins and Simpson, 2003). Fair employment practices for women are now part of the criteria of many social investment indices (e.g. FTSE4Good or Domini 400 Social Index). Secondly, board diversity is required by important stakeholders, such as customers or employees. The consideration of stakeholders’ preferences, aspirations, and concerns might be beneficial for firms through improved customer loyalty, and employee motivation (e.g. Powell, 1999). Thirdly, recent legislation and diversity initiatives worldwide have pointed out the importance of female representation on boards of directors. For example, the Norwegian government requires companies to appoint at least 40% of women. Spain and France have implemented the same affirmative actions by 2015 and 2017 respectively (Terjesen et al, 2009). Fourthly, board diversity issues have also been discussed by best practices in corporate governance. For example, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (in the United States) or the Higgs Review (in the United Kingdom) encourages more diversity on corporate boards (Adams and Ferreira, 2009; Dalton and Dalton, 2008). Finally, gender diversity is on companies’ agenda, since more women are in top management positions today. Therefore, the pipeline of female directors and women CEOs is expected to increase in the coming years (Helfat, Harris and Wolfson, 2006).

Women on corporate boards have been the subject of an abundant literature (theoretical and empirical) in many countries, mainly in the United States, in the United Kingdom and in Scandinavian countries. Main results show an average slow progress and relatively low number of women on corporate boards. There are significant differences between countries. Overall, women hold about 10% of the seats of boards.To our knowledge, there are no study-examining women on corporate boards in France. The article describes how women managed to break through what the author so-called the “glass ceiling” by examining empirically their progress on the boards of the 120 largest firms in France (SBF 120). Similarly, we investigate their role as internal and external directors and as CEO.Overall, our results show a significant increase in the number of women on corporate boards. In 2009, 66% of the SBF 120 large-cap companies have at least one board seat filled by a woman (against 40% in 2000). Women hold nearly 10% of the seats. However, a closer analysis reveals that the number of women serving as internal director and as CEO of a company remain low (around 2%), corroborating the Anglo-Saxon studies in this matter. There are no signs predicting any progress in this number, which even tends to regress.We analyze women’s progression on corporate board in light of various theoretical explanations, across two levels: board (Social identity, and Social Network and Social Cohesion theories) and firm (Resource Dependency).

Given the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate governance, this study examines the association between board composition and CSR disclosure on a sample of S&P 500 firms over the period from 2004 to 2015. Unlike existing studies, we control for potential sources of endogeneity using a system-generalized method of moments (system GMM) estimator. In doing so, we find no evidence that board size, board independence or CEO duality has any significant influence on CSR disclosure. Rather, our results suggest that, when the problem of endogeneity is correctly taken into account, the link between board composition and CSR disclosure is neutral., Compte tenu de l’importance de la responsabilité sociale des entreprises (RSE) et de la gouvernance des entreprises, cette étude examine l’association entre la composition du conseil d’administration et la divulgation d’informations RSE sur un échantillon d’entreprises composant l’indice S&P 500 au cours de la période 2004 à 2015. Contrairement aux études existantes, nous contrôlons les potentielles sources d’endogénéité à l’aide d’un estimateur de la méthode des moments généralisée (système GMM). Ce faisant, nous ne trouvons aucune preuve que la taille du conseil, son indépendance ou la dualité des fonctions de PDG ont une influence significative sur la divulgation d’information en matière de RSE. Nos résultats suggèrent plutôt que, lorsque le problème d’endogénéité est correctement pris en compte, le lien entre la composition du conseil d’administration et la divulgation d’information RSE est neutre., Dada la importancia de la responsabilidad social corporativa (RSC) y el gobierno corporativo, este estudio examina la asociación entre la composición de la junta directiva y la divulgación de la RSC en una muestra de empresas pertenecientes al S&P 500 durante el período de 2004 a 2015. A diferencia de los estudios existentes, controlamos las posibles fuentes de uso de endogeneidad de un estimador con el método de momentos generalizado por sistema (sistema GMM). Al hacerlo, no encontramos evidencia de que el tamaño de la junta directiva, su independencia o la dualidad del CEO tengan una influencia significativa en la divulgación de la RSC. Nuestros resultados sugieren que, cuando el problema de la endogeneidad se tiene en cuenta correctamente, el vínculo entre la composición de la junta directiva y la divulgación de la RSC es neutral.