Drawing on the status characteristic theory, we investigate the effect of gender on board directors’ status ranking and find that all else being equal, female directors’ status ranking is 81.48% of one position lower than that of male directors, a discrepancy that is attributable to gender. We theorize on the mechanism that determines the ways in which the status value of gender on a board affects board interactions, and we predict how this mechanism influences firm outcomes, including excessive managerial spending, (...) social responsibility performance, and firm risk. We test our hypotheses in Chinese firms using an unbalanced panel that includes 5396 firm-year observations for a period of 6 years and find them supported. (shrink)

Meta-analytic results show that board gender diversity is modestly associated with firm performance, but there is notable heterogeneity among findings. Board gender diversity allows access to women’s perspectives, potentially helping boards, but diversity can also trigger biases that exclude women directors, such that boards do not integrate meaningful perspectives. Addressing this problem, we leverage the categorization-elaboration model, contact theory, and critical mass theory to build new theory as to how men directors can serve as allies to women directors to better (...) leverage diverse perspectives. We empirically test how considerations that reduce out-group categorization and bias against women moderate the board gender diversity-firm performance relationship. Our results show that gender diverse boards perform better with more formal contact among men and women director colleagues, and that gender diverse boards with more men directors who only have prior experience working with token-women, perform worse. Our work helps explain how and why board gender diversity can improve or detract from firm performance. This extends the literature by illustrating the important consequences that occur when firms do (or do not) have men directors who are likely to be allies of gender diversity. (shrink)

This study examined the influence of the executive board of directors’ gender diversity on the financial performance of listed companies on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, for the period 2011 to 2019. The analysis of the composition and different characteristics of the board and the executive directors proved to be effective tools for corporate governance in countries with an emerging capital market. Therefore, a disclosure index on directors’ characteristics was used to moderate the interaction between gender diversity and financial performance, based (...) on the theoretical framework provided by upper echelon theory. The study contributes to the enrichment of the literature both by using the composite indicator built by applying the multiway PCA method on panel data to express financial performance and by designing the ten EGLS panel models involving five financial indicators and two proxies for gender diversity. The results showed that there is a positive impact of the proportion of women on the executive board of directors on financial performance, measured through the composite index, ROA, ROE, and SOL. A statistically significant impact of gender diversity on financial performance was found only for SOL, in the case of the Blau index. Also, using the random-effects model to perform the panel data analysis, the results showed that a higher executive board size can be associated with better financial performance measured through the composite index, ROA, ROE, and EPS. Practical implications are significant for the board of executives’ composition, the complexity of the relationship with the board, and reshaping governance practices. (shrink)