Do Women on the Board Mitigate Cybersecurity Risks?

The connection between gender diversity and firm performance: Evidence from Taiwan

This study aims to investigate the impact of board gender diversity on firm performance and risk management, with a focus on the moderating effects of CEO education, CEO power, and institutional investors, in companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. The statistical sample includes 116 companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange over the period from 2018 to 2022. The models employed in this study are multivariate linear regression models, analyzed using EViews 10 software. The hypothesis testing results indicate a significant and negative relationship between board gender diversity and financial performance (return on assets). There is a significant and positive relationship between board gender diversity and financial performance (return on equity). No significant relationship was found between board gender diversity and financial performance (Tobin's Q). A significant and positive relationship was identified between board gender diversity and economic performance (market value added and economic value added). Moreover, there is a significant and positive relationship between board gender diversity and non-financial performance (corporate social responsibility). However, no significant relationship was found between board gender diversity and other non-financial performance indicators (innovation, employee growth, internal process factor, customer factor, and learning and growth factor). Additionally, no significant relationship was observed between board gender diversity and risk management (operational risk, reporting risk management, and strategic risk management). There is, however, a significant and positive relationship between board gender diversity and risk management regarding non-compliance with laws and regulations.

PurposeBy bringing management in line with stakeholders’ interests, board diversity enhances company results and is essential to corporate governance. Palestine’s respectable sociocultural background shows more gender prejudice than in more developed environments. The purpose of this study is to examine the understudied topic of board gender diversity (BGD) and its impact on the performance of the Palestinian banking sector.Design/methodology/approachTo analyse 132 bank-year observations for balanced longitudinal data analysis, this quantitative study uses fixed-effect, random and ordinary least squares (OLS) techniques. With these techniques, the BGD-Tobin’s Q nexus between 2013 and 2023 is established appropriately. To tackle the problems of endogeneity and robustness, the generalized method of moments (GMM) has also been used to analyse our primary findings regarding the effect of gender diversity on boards on the performance of the Palestinian banking sector.FindingsOur results indicate that the model validates the positive correlation between BGD and market-based performance indicators. The results support the agency and resource dependency theories and highlight the significance of BGD in decision-making. Therefore, for every unit increase in BGD, Tobin’s Q measure increases by 42.3%. Furthermore, for each unit change in the capital adequacy ratio, board independence, size, meetings, and percentage of women in senior management, Tobin-Q will alter by 2.26, 28.7, 4.63, 46.7, 26.81 and 17.25%. Empirical results exhibit that board gender diversity has been gradually improving since 2013 in the banking sector in Palestine. Furthermore, this study found a significant impact of board diversity on the bank performance indicators.Research limitations/implicationsThe primary limitations of this study should be emphasized. These include the small sample size of Palestinian banks that are listed on the Palestine Stock Exchange and the fact that some banks, in particular, did not provide complete disclosures every year. These issues should be taken into consideration in future studies.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study provide implications for the Palestine Stock Exchange, academics, senior executives, practitioners and bank owners. Our findings urge banks to prioritize female representation on their boards and support gender equality to ensure continued improvement in bank performance. They provide insights for Palestinian banks to enhance their performance and address agency concerns by prioritizing good governance practices and promoting gender diversity on boards. The findings enhance our understanding of gender diversity in the banking industry in Palestine by investigating the implementation of corporate governance regulations in banks, an area that has not received attention in previous research.Originality/valueThis paper offers theoretical insights into how bank performance is enhanced by gender diversity on boards. Theoretical implications of the findings contribute to the expansion of our knowledge of corporate governance in various fields. This study provides insights into the value of board gender diversity for improving the performance of the banking industry in Palestine for CEOs, stakeholders, bank managers and governing bodies. This paper adds to and expands the existing literature on the benefits of board gender diversity for banks’ financial performance and success in the Palestinian context, which is unique in its business nature and different from other contexts in the region.

This study examines the impact of board gender diversity on corporate financial performance and investigates the moderating role of internationalization in the context of Southeast Asia. Using a panel dataset of publicly listed firms from five Southeast Asian countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand) over the period 2014–2023, the analysis employs fixed effects regression models incorporating country, industry, and year fixed effects. The results show that board gender diversity is negatively and significantly associated with Tobin’s Q, indicating that increased female representation on boards is linked to lower market valuation. However, no significant effect is found on accounting-based performance measures, including ROA, ROE, and NPM. Additionally, internationalization is found to moderate the relationship between board gender diversity and profitability, with a significant interaction effect observed only for Net Profit Margin. These findings suggest that while gender diversity may not enhance short-term financial performance or market perception in this context, it becomes more valuable in internationally engaged firms. The study contributes to the understanding of how board composition and strategic orientation interact to shape firm outcomes in emerging markets.

The objective of this study is to examine the effect of board gender diversity on the disclosures of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) of Fortune 500 non- financial firms in the United States of America. This study utilized a sample of US non-financial firms between 2013-2022 and generated unbalanced panel data for 343 non-financial firms from the Bloomberg database comprising 2,145 firm-year observations. The results indicate that board gender diversity is positively associated with ESG disclosure. Besides, the board gender diversity also has a significant positive relationship with individual components of ESG disclosure: environmental, social, and governance disclosures. This study also explores the impact of a critical mass of women on boards on the ESG disclosure score and its three components individually. In addition, the findings suggest that the critical mass of female board members favorably impacts the environmental and governance components of the ESG score. However, their contribution to the social score is limited. This study contributes to the limited but expanding literature on the relationship between corporate governance and ESG disclosure and encourages firms in developing nations to appoint more women to the boards.

In this study, we examine the impact of board gender diversity on the association between firm opacity and stock price crash. We utilize the negative shock of the 2007–2008 financial crisis to capital markets to examine whether firms with gender-diverse boards witnessed lower stock price crashes due to their lower opacity ex ante. Using a sample of S&P 1500 firms spanning the period 2005–2008, we employ a difference-in-differences research design and find that firms with high opacity ex ante witness more negative returns ex post. We also find that gender-diverse firms ex ante witness less negative returns ex post. Finally, our analysis reveals the moderating role that board gender diversity plays in the association between firm opacity and stock returns around the financial crisis. We subject our results to a range of robustness checks, including instrumental variable regressions, matched-sample analyses, and a set of falsification and placebo tests. Overall, we provide evidence that board gender diversity is associated with increased transparency in financial reporting, which pays off in times of crisis.

ABSTRACTResearch Questions/IssueThis paper examines the impact of board gender diversity on workplace safety in an international setting from 2002 to 2019. Utilizing gender quotas on corporate boards as a quasi‐natural experiment, we explore the causal effects of gender diversity on workplace safety, highlighting the significant influence of corporate board gender quotas on corporate policies.Research Findings/ResultsUsing a sample of 13,124 firm‐year observations from 48 countries, our findings reveal that gender quotas on corporate boards are linked to higher rates of work‐related injuries. The association is particularly strong in financially constrained firms, as well as in those with high workloads and low investments in workplace safety. In contrast, this effect is mitigated in firms located in countries with strong institutional frameworks and high union representation. The results hold across various regression specifications and remain robust when considering different measures of workplace injuries, board gender diversity, and additional control variables.Theoretical ImplicationsOur study draws on gender behavior theory, social role theory, and gender socialization theory, with findings particularly aligning with gender behavior theory. It advances understanding of how changes in corporate governance structures related to board diversity influence workplace safety. This research underscores the importance of further empirical work to expand this area of study, suggesting valuable directions for future research through cross‐sectional and longitudinal analyses.Practical ImplicationsThe findings provide critical insights for policymakers considering the implementation of gender quotas in boardrooms. Additionally, this research highlights the need for further exploration of unexamined aspects within governance studies, which will significantly influence future policy debates, legislative processes, and corporate practices in promoting gender diversity and enhancing workplace safety.

Board gender diversity and innovation performance in manufacturing firms: What is the role of risk-taking?

The research objective is to investigate the impact of board gender diversity on corporate sustainability performance, with enterprise risk management (ERM) as a moderating factor within health sector companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The study adopts a secondary quantitative research approach and utilizes panel data linear regression analysis conducted through Econometric Views (E-Views). The study population consists of health sector firms listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange from 2019 to 2022. The sample selection method used is purposive sampling, resulting in a sample size of 10 companies for the study. Secondary data is collected through the documentation method from the Indonesia Stock Exchange and the official websites of the selected companies. The findings reveal a negative relationship between board gender diversity and corporate sustainability performance, with a negative coefficient indicating that higher gender diversity among board members correlates with lower sustainability performance. Additionally, the study demonstrates that ERM strengthens the association between gender diversity and sustainability performance. Companies proficient in ERM implementation are better positioned to leverage the positive effects of gender diversity on sustainability performance. Understanding this interplay can assist organizations in making informed decisions regarding gender diversity policies and enterprise risk management strategies.

This study examines how board gender diversity affects listed non-financial European companies’ financial performance. Data from the Refinitiv Eikon Platform—LSEG and World Bank databases was used to complete the analysis. The total sample included 4257 companies for the period 2011–2023. This study examined board gender diversity and its interaction with liquidity while controlling for board characteristics such as board size, independence, and board meetings. Controlling for firm characteristics (firm size and leverage) and macroeconomic variables like inflation and GDP. This study estimated the connection using panel regression. Due to Hausman test significance, fixed effect estimation was used. The findings demonstrated a notable and favorable influence of board features, such as gender diversity, board independence, and board size, on European nonfinancial companies. Additionally, liquidity positively affects firm performance. Furthermore, the findings indicated that leverage had a significant negative impact on profitability. Finally, both the size and GDP have a significant beneficial impact on profitability. Our findings indicate that an increased representation of women on the board of directors is associated with greater independence among board members and a higher number of board members being hired. This, in turn, has a positive impact on profitability due to the extensive experience shared among board members. Additionally, this leads to improved governance, enabling better control over decisions and a greater focus on the long-term investment strategy of the company. Our results are robust, as are similar results reported by the GMM regression.

The purpose of this research is to examine the association between corporate governance mechanisms (board independence, board gender diversity, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) duality, and environmental, social and governance (ESG) linked compensation) and wastewater recycling as a strategy for managing the flow of microplastics into the aquatic environment. The study analysed an international sample of top companies on the Forbes 500 list over a 15-year period during the millennium development goals (MDGs) and sustainable development goals (SDGs) eras. Multiple regression analysis with fixed effect OLS, two-stage least squares regression, propensity score matching, and logistic regression were applied in the data analysis. The results show that, at the aggregate level, board gender diversity is positively associated with wastewater recycling, whilst CEO duality has a significant negative impact. When disaggregated into industries, board gender diversity is positively associated with wastewater recycling in high-polluting and low-polluting industries. In relation to the MDGs/SDGs eras, the impact of board gender diversity is more significant in the MDGs era than in the SDGs era. At the geographical region level, CEO duality has a significant negative impact on wastewater management in the America and Asia Pacific regions, whilst the effect of CEO duality is significantly positive in the Western Europe region. We also find that a minimum of two female directors is required to improve wastewater management practice. The study concludes that whilst board gender diversity is a notable driver of wastewater management, CEO duality diminishes the commitment of multinational entities (MNEs) to addressing wastewater management issues. Our result is robust to (i) alternative measures of wastewater management, (ii) alternate sample composition, (iii) alternate method of data analysis, and (iv) endogeneity checks. The study contributes to the limited literature on waste management and the circular economy, particularly governance mechanisms’ role in wastewater management in an international context.

This study investigates the impact of board gender diversity on the export resilience of Chinese A-share listed firms from 2009 to 2015. Our findings indicate that board gender diversity significantly enhances firms’ export resilience. The results remain robust across various modifications, including adjustments to the sample period, exclusion of extreme values, utilization of alternative measures for critical variables, addressing endogeneity concerns by adding fixed effects and employing the sex ratio at birth as an instrumental variable. Mechanism tests reveal that enhancing the quality of export products, expanding export diversity, and improving corporate reputation are crucial pathways through which board gender diversity can bolster firms’ export resilience. Finally, heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive effect is more pronounced in older firms and those with higher board educational backgrounds. This effect is also more prominent in firms located in provinces with higher levels of non-state economic and product market development.

Does board gender diversity improve stock liquidity?

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the impact of board gender diversity (BGD) on firm financial stability during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period.Design/methodology/approachDifference-in-differences method was used for a sample of 891 US companies observed from 2018 to 2021.FindingsThe results indicate significant negative relationships between BGD and financial stability. The authors put in evidence a nonlinear relationship between BGD and financial stability. Also, the authors found that internal women directors as well as external ones decrease financial stability.Practical implicationsThe results emphasize the beneficial effect of having more women on corporate boards during health crises and suggest that policymakers should take measures to promote BGD.Originality/valueThis paper highlights the impact of BGD on financial stability and provides additional evidence on the usefulness of BGD as an effective tool for crisis management.

This study investigates how the corporate social responsibility (CSR) committee mediates the relationship between board gender diversity (BGD) and environmental innovation in European countries. This research analyzed data from non‐financial companies listed in Europe over a period spanning from 2013 to 2022 in order to investigate the direct influence of BGD on environmental innovation. Moreover, this study also explored an indirect influence in the form of the mediating role of the CSR committee, thus making a noteworthy contribution to the field. Furthermore, by integrating insights from the areas of gender diversity, corporate governance, and sustainability, this research enhances our understanding of the various factors that influence environmental innovation. Indeed, the results indicate a positive and significant relationship between BGD and environmental innovation. Additionally, the findings showed that the CSR committee plays a partially mediating role in this relationship.