Article

Appointing Women to Boards: Is There a Cultural Bias?

Authors:
To read the full-text of this research, you can request a copy directly from the authors.

Abstract

Companies that are serious about corporate governance and business ethics are turning their attention to gender diversity at the most senior levels of business (Institute of Business Ethics, Business Ethics Briefing 21:1, 2011). Board gender diversity has been the subject of several studies carried out by international organizations such as Catalyst (Increasing gender diversity on boards: Current index of formal approaches, 2012), the World Economic Forum (Hausmann et al., The global gender gap report, 2010), and the European Board Diversity Analysis (Is it getting easier to find women on European boards? 2010). They all lead to reports confirming the overall relatively low proportion of women on boards and the slow pace at which more women are being appointed. Furthermore, the proportion of women on corporate boards varies much across countries. Based on institutional theory, this study hypothesizes and tests whether this variation can be attributed to differences in cultural settings across countries. Our analysis of the representation of women on boards for 32 countries during 2010 reveals that two cultural characteristics are indeed associated with the observed differences. We use the cultural dimensions proposed by Hofstede (Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values, 1980) to measure this construct. Results show that countries which have the greatest tolerance for inequalities in the distribution of power and those that tend to value the role of men generally exhibit lower representations of women on boards.

No full-text available

Request Full-text Paper PDF

To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.

... Second, the literature reveals the importance of governance quality and culture on corporate governance practices, such as the presence of women on boards (Cabeza-García et al., 2019;Carrasco et al., 2015;Grosvold, 2011;Grosvold & Brammer, 2011). By studying governance quality and culture as antecedents of diversity in board regulation, our study answers calls to analyze the determinants of women on boards (Kirsch, 2018;Yao, 2023). ...
... Given Europe's 1 great heterogeneity, we examine how six Hofstede (1980; cultural institutions increase the pressure on certain management practices, including the likelihood of enacting board gender regulations. Hofstede's national cultural dimensions are wellestablished measures in corporate governance research (e.g., Haxhi & van Ees, 2010;Gallén & Peraita, 2018), including board diversity (Grosvold, 2011;Carrasco et al., 2015;Cabeza-García et al., 2019). Various cognitive and normative pressures suggest that board gender 1 European cultural heterogeneity is recognized by article 167 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the EU stating that "the Union shall contribute to the flowering of the cultures of the Member States, while respecting their national and regional diversity and at the same time bringing the common cultural heritage to the fore;" and "The Union shall take cultural aspects into account in its action… to respect and promote the diversity of its cultures.". ...
... Countries with high power distance accept unequal distributions, such that women's comparatively lower level of representation in the highest corporate echelons may be commonly regarded as "normal." For instance, Carrasco et al. (2015) found that the proportion of women on boards is lower in countries with high power distances. Likewise, countries with high power distance are not prone to adopt coercive legislation. ...
Article
Full-text available
This study empirically explores the formal and informal institutional antecedents of the enactment of quotas and codes to increase gender diversity on corporate boards. A panel of 30 European countries and 510 observations from 2002 to 2018 reveals that formal and informal national institutional contexts affect the likelihood of board gender codes and quotas. The presence of women in decision-making bodies is the most powerful driver of quotas and codes. Countries with better governance quality and longer maternity leave are less likely to have board gender quotas. High power distance, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, restraint, short-term orientation, and individualism all increase the likelihood of quotas. A country's female participation in the labor market is also associated with the regulation of board gender diversity. In contrast to previous theoretical propositions, other institutional factors, such as the current presence of a left-wing government, are not related to gender diversity regulations.
... Some organizations in the west try to maintain the board gender diversity because of institutional pressure (Gregori c et al., 2017), whereas some create chief diversity officer based on the institutional environment of supportive or not so supportive policies outside organizations (Shi et al., 2018) along with support of resource-based theory and upper echelon theory. Using the institutional and culture context, the framework has been used to understand the individual's choices and constraints and the organizational practices for women's career (Lee Cooke and Xiao, 2014), culture's role in conditioning individual behaviour and stereotypes impacting decisions to elect women into boards (Carrasco et al., 2015), whereas few firms try to gain institutional legitimacy by conforming to institutional pressure and requirements, thus finding that having more females on boards resulted in greater CSR assurance decisions (Liao et al., 2018). In addition, the country-specific power relations in the context of respective countries, including the institutional actors and work, gives directions to HR managers to advance diversity initiatives within their organizations (Kornau et al., 2022). ...
... Moore (2015) confirms this argument by suggesting how diversity management initiatives may fail if the "recontextualization" of initiatives and knowledge transfer do not consider cross-cultural management in the context of native categories. Another reason for low women board representation on board is the culture of tolerance for inequality in the distribution of power and value role of men (Carrasco et al., 2015) and the culture in which the organization operates supporting the contingency theory of leadership (Nekhili et al., 2018). ...
... With reference to culture, for example, studies from China have mentioned about the negative impact of career prospects for women because of Confucian culture (Du, 2016) and cross-cultural settings (Carrasco et al., 2015). Furthermore, studies have explored the organizational culture's impact on the presence of women on board and other career outcomes Nekhili et al., 2018;Martín-Alc azar et al., 2012). ...
Article
Purpose Despite the significance of a gender-diverse workforce, there is a lack of comprehensive review of gender diversity and women's career advancement literature. Moreover, past literature focuses on women-on-board and other subsets based on outcomes like firm financial and non-financial performance, corporate social performance and board interlocks. The purpose of this study is to examine the research on gender diversity and women's career advancement through an analysis of 143 articles published during past decade. Theoretical frameworks, contexts and constructs-based contribution to scholarship were reviewed. The authors attempt to highlight key theories, constructs and contexts and provide direction for future research. Design/methodology/approach A comprehensive systematic literature review of 143 articles spanning January 2008–March 2023 about gender diversity and women’s career advancement was conducted. Findings Majority of the past studies have focused on women on board and top management team, and most of them have been conducted in the context of the USA and China. There is no specific industry which has been covered extensively. Resource dependency, resource-based views and agency theories are the primary theoretical frameworks used in the past studies. Furthermore, these findings suggest the scope to further focus on women’s retention and career growth initiatives, especially at levels other than top levels, for a stronger leadership pipeline. Originality/value This study has been conducted with a focused analysis of the context, constructs and theoretical frameworks, enabling future researchers to decide how and where to focus, to now strengthen retention of women.
... In this research, we aim to answer two questions in an effort to enhance current understanding of the CSI-board gender diversity relationship: (1) (Barnea & Rubin, 2010;Bona-Sánchez et al., 2023;López-Iturriaga & López-Foronda, 2011;Dam & Scholtens, 2013;Ducassy & Montandrau, 2015;Oh et al., 2017;Pucheta-Martínez & López-Zamora, 2018), the incentives of dominant owners in CSI episodes in the presence of female directors remains an unexplored aspect of their behaviour. Results obtained in the Anglo-American setting are not directly transferable to a continental European context, where female directors may play a different role in firms' social behaviour due to cultural aspects such as patriarchal attitudes, masculinity, power distance, the role of the family, tolerance of inequalities or individualism (Cabeza-García et al., 2019;Carrasco et al., 2015;Castro et al., 2023;Davis & Williamson, 2019;Grosvold et al., 2016). Moreover, in this scenario, the weaker legal system and greater orientation focused towards the interests of shareholders versus stakeholders may well affect the role of female directors and the relevance of social behaviour for dominant owners (Liu et al., 2021;Lu & Wang, 2021;Poursoleyman et al., 2024). ...
... However, the reduction in socially irresponsible behaviour as the presence of female directors increases in the Anglo-American setting is not directly transferable to a continental European context, where female directors may play a different role in the social behaviour of firms due to cultural aspects such as patriarchal attitudes, masculinity, power distance, the role of the family, tolerance for inequalities or individualism (Cabeza-García et al., 2019;Carrasco et al., 2015;Castro et al., 2023;Davis & Williamson, 2019;Grosvold et al., 2016). Moreover, in this scenario, the weaker legal system and the greater orientation towards the interests of shareholders versus stakeholders affect the role of female directors and the relevance of social behaviour for dominant owners (Liu et al., 2021;Lu & Wang, 2021;Poursoleyman et al., 2024). ...
Article
Full-text available
The growing prominence of women directors has increased interest in their role in firms' social performance. However, knowledge of what impact female directors might have on corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) remains virtually non‐existent. This study aims to fill this gap. Using a sample of 107 Spanish listed non‐financial companies from the OSIRIS database (Bureau Van Dijk) for the period 2014–2022, together with alternative regression methods to account for endogeneity (2SLS, propensity scoring matching and generalised method of moments), our results show an inverted U‐shaped relationship between female directors and CSI. This supports arguments that dominant owners might appoint a small number of female directors symbolically to create a ‘halo effect’ or to enhance their public image and thus reinforce their entrenchment and divert attention away from CSI episodes. However, the appointment of a critical mass of female directors does evidence dominant owner commitment to move away from irresponsible corporate practices, since the presence of a larger number of female directors encourages the firm's ethical behaviour and increases the costs of penalising CSI episodes in the face of the firm's hypocritical behaviour. This study contributes to the emerging literature on CSI by complementing the knowledge gained from studies on ethical behaviour in a concentrated ownership setting. However, the study is not without limitations, especially in terms of the difficulty of measuring CSI episodes since, despite the work of the media, some socially irresponsible practices may remain hidden.
... Gender inclusion in corporate boards has been a burning issue for a long time now. Considering that female representation in senior management has repercussions for organizational culture, gender diversity in upper-level management has been an ethical problem for companies (Institute of Business Ethics, 2011; Carrasco et al., 2015) [15,6] . There is a significant underrepresentation of women across a wide range of fields, including corporate governance, the workforce, and politics (Karam and Jamali, 2013) [18] . ...
... Gender inclusion in corporate boards has been a burning issue for a long time now. Considering that female representation in senior management has repercussions for organizational culture, gender diversity in upper-level management has been an ethical problem for companies (Institute of Business Ethics, 2011; Carrasco et al., 2015) [15,6] . There is a significant underrepresentation of women across a wide range of fields, including corporate governance, the workforce, and politics (Karam and Jamali, 2013) [18] . ...
Article
The lack of representation of women on corporate boards has long been a burning issue worldwide. Women are notably underrepresented in a variety of professions, including corporate leadership, the workforce, and politics. In order to bring attention to the fact that there is a gender gap in boardrooms both in India and throughout the world, this article attempts to highlight valid figures from various reports released both internationally and nationally. Numerous studies and reports have asserted that women directors from a variety of backgrounds and experiences have the propensity to view issues and potential solutions from a wider angle. As a result, diversity in boards has generally been regarded as a key factor in enhanced decision-making. The steps currently being taken to improve “diversity” in organizations only address the “representation” aspect of it. But if women are not truly represented, then the boardroom diversity is meaningless. Further, in the course of this study, it has been stated that the observance of progressive international standards is a possible solution to provide everyone with equal opportunities regardless of their gender. The present study aims to clarify the local and global issues affecting the underrepresentation of women in boardrooms. The situation in the Indian boardroom is given special consideration during this study. The objective of this research is to portray the current practices in India with regard to the inclusion of women in senior management roles because as per the statistics of various studies, women only hold a small fraction of corporate boardrooms in India. Additionally, the goal of the study is to investigate the reasons behind the gender imbalance in the boardroom and offer suggestions for promoting gender diversity therein.
... Yet, progress in improving female board representation has been slow (Halliday et al., 2021), and women directors are still underrepresented (Reddy, Jadhav, 2019). However, the proportion of women on corporate boards varies widely across countries (Carrasco et al., 2015;European Commission, 2022). ...
... Numerous factors influence women's participation on boards. Scholars have indicated that the proportion of women sitting in a firm's board of directors is influenced by the characteristics of the country, i.e., economic, social and cultural characteristics (Terjesen, Singh, 2008;Carrasco et al., 2015;Low et al., 2015;Halliday et al., 2021), business environment and customer base (Brammer et al., 2019), the industry type (Hillman et al., 2007;Mukarram et al., 2018), the firm type (Morikawa, 2016;Brieger et al., 2019), type of ownership (García-Meca, Santana Martín, 2022;Huh, Kashian, 2021;Martín-Ugedo, Minguez-Vera, 2014;Nekhili, Gatfaoui, 2013), the ownership structure (Morris et al., 2021;Cordeiro et al., 2020;Lin et al., 2018), organizational size (Hillman et al., 2007), the board size (De Cabo et al., 2012;Nekhili, Gatfaoui, 2013), the diversification strategy (Hillman et al., 2007), the network effects (Hillman et al., 2007), the firm risk (Poletti-Hughes, Briano-Turrent, 2019; Morikawa, 2016;Martín-Ugedo, Minguez-Vera, 2014), company's age (Morikawa, 2016) and growth orientation (De Cabo et al., 2012), etc. ...
Article
Full-text available
The clearest picture of an actual gender policy in a country could be given by investigating the local authorities' appointment of the directors and supervisory board members of public enterprises since no mandatory quotas have been imposed on membership on those boards. On the other hand, the election of the supervisory board member of those enterprises by the employee could show if gender inequality is present in the population. The paper's second goal is to detect any patterns in the appointment of the directors, supervisory board chairmen, and supervisory board members regarding their age and gender and the firm's characteristics. In a sample of all of Belgrade's public enterprises, we found that gender inequality is widely present in the world of politics. At the same time, it does not appear to be present in the population. Regarding age policy, older people are more likely to be appointed by the local authority in financially more powerful enterprises.
... We looked at interventions intended to address the unique ethical challenges faced by women, including sexual harassment and limited opportunities for career development (Mainiero & Jones, 2013;McDaniel et al., 2001). Moreover, we examined initiatives promoting gender equality across different organizational levels (Carrasco et al., 2015). This approach enabled us to achieve a precise and contextualized assessment of OI. ...
Article
Full-text available
Drawing on virtue ethics and stakeholder theory, the article investigates the unfolding of business ethics in the wine industry, with a focus on family businesses. Attention is specifically paid to the interplay of internal (i.e., employees-centeredness and organizational inclusiveness) and external (i.e., people-centeredness and territorial development) ethical orientations. A unique sample of 164 Italian wine businesses was built to get evidence of how the nexus of internal and external ethical orientations is handled, emphasizing the distinctive traits of family businesses. We found that employee-centeredness nurtured organizational inclusiveness and fostered people-centeredness. Interestingly, the family businesses’ concern for territorial development curbed the positive implications of employee-centeredness on people-centeredness. The study results extend scholarly knowledge, shedding light on a ‘grey’ side of family businesses’ ethics.
... In line with Mazzotta and Ferraro (2020), Firm dimension and Firm age are included. Firm dimension, measured with logarithm of the number of employees (Carrasco et al., 2015;Coffey and Wang, 1998;Smith, 2007), is considered as larger firms are more likely to have higher firm performance, which may originate from market power (Lee, 2009). Firm age is measured with the number of years since the firm's foundation (Marinova et al., 2016;Pandey et al., 2023;Ujunwa, 2012). ...
Article
Purpose The introduction of gender quota laws in many countries has garnered significant attention in the literature and in the political discourse. Proponents of this solution emphasise its potential to bolster opportunities for women, foster their participation on boards of directors and improve corporate governance, market value and firm performance. Conversely, opponents express concerns regarding the possibility of appointing less-qualified women, thereby diminishing board effectiveness and potentially leading to negative consequences on firm market value and performance. This study aims to address this ongoing debate by examining the impact of gender quota laws on firm performance. Design/methodology/approach The impact of gender quota laws on firm performance, measured through ROE, ROA and ROI, is evaluated using a database of 27,977 Italian firms and adopting a two-stage traditional treatment effect model. Findings The econometric analysis reveals a negative impact of the gender quota law on firm performance. Originality/value This study contributes to the academic debate on the pros and cons of imposing gender quota laws by providing empirical evidence on their impact on firm performance.
... Specifically, interest in improving a company's corporate reputation may lead that company to increase female representation on the board purely for that purpose, leading women directors to be conceived as mere tokens (Deschênes et al. 2015). Finally, the lack of a gender-equality orientation in the business environment means that countries where the role of men receives greater recognition and there is a greater tolerance of inequalities in the distribution of power have boards with lower female representation (Carrasco et al. 2015). ...
Article
Full-text available
The urgent need to tackle climate change has led scholars to study the factors that affect companies’ ability to achieve superior environmental performance. One such factor, the influence of women board members, has received considerable attention because of women’s greater tendency to care for the planet. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no literature review has yet attempted to describe the state of the art of this relationship and its conditioning factors. Therefore, this paper aims to identify the degree of consensus in the literature regarding the role of board gender diversity in environmental performance and to specify the variables that condition this relationship. The content of all studies that offer evidence of this relationship is analyzed. The results imply that there is a high degree of consensus regarding the positive influence of female leadership on environmental performance in studies that focus exclusively on this relationship. The review also shows that this relationship is conditioned by numerous factors. However, the evidence in this regard is scant and in some cases inconclusive. Therefore, this review reveals both the scope and the unfilled needs in this field of study. It thus supports the sharing of knowledge on this topic and draws attention to the questions that need to be addressed.
... One's norms, values, attitudes and behaviours take a lot of time to evolve. Changes or adjustments in those things would be too challenging (Cohen, 2015) because culture shapes social design, affecting one's practices and processes (Carrasco, Francoeur, Labelle, Laffarga, & Ruiz-Barbadillo, 2015) which is difficult to change. ...
Article
This study aims to investigate the impact of the cultural diversity of the corporate board on stock price Informativeness. The study provides empirical evidence from Pakistan stock exchange. We examine how cultural dimensions (individualism, masculinity, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance) affect stock Informativeness. Most of the previous studies analyzed culture from an investor’s perspective, but in this study, the cultural dimensions of a corporate board are being explored. The study employs the GMM (generalized method of moment) for empirical analysis because this method eliminates the endogeneity concerns. The study considers the companies from Pakistan stock exchange’s KSE 100 index from 2009 to 2019. The cultural diversity of the board is computed after analyzing 6451 directors from 43 different countries. The results show that the corporate board's cultural diversity has significant and positive impact on stock price informativeness. Furthermore, the boards having members from high power distance and masculine cultures are negatively associated with stock price informativeness, while the individualistic and uncertainty avoidance cultures are positively linked with stock price informativeness. In conclusion, we suggests that regulators should encourage board diversity as it helps companies and corporate boards in eliminating information asymmetries and consequently enhancing the stock price informativeness. Increase in stock infromativenss helps investors in making better investment decisions.
... The representation of female directors can be influenced by cultural factors. Carrasco et al. (2015) emphasised that certain cultural characteristics of a nation can impact the presence of women on boards. Hofstede et al. (2010) highlighted that men tend to prioritise aspects such as profits, recognition, progress, and taskoriented outcomes, whereas women focus more on fostering effective teamwork with superiors, collaboration, creating a conducive working environment, and ensuring labor security. ...
Article
Full-text available
Manuscript type: Research paper Research aims: This study aims to assess how corporate governance characteristics affect the disclosure of corporate social responsibility (CSR) among manufacturing companies listed on the stock market of Vietnam. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study analyses the annual reports of 195 companies listed on the Vietnam stock market between 2018 and 2022, to investigate the influence of board size, board independence, women on board, board meetings, managerial ownership, and female leadership on corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD). The Fixed Effects Model (FEM) and Random Effects Model (REM) were employed to determine the optimal model. Subsequently, defects and regression were analysed using the General Least Squares (GLS) model. Research findings: The findings reveal that the managerial ownership factor has the most substantial negative impact on CSRD; followed by the female leadership a positive influence on CSRD. Lastly, the board size factor has a positive effect on CSRD, with a significant alignment with previous research. Additionally, board independence, women on board, and board meetings have an insignificant influence on CSRD. Theoretical contribution: Based on the findings, manufacturing companies listed on the stock market of Vietnam demonstrate a level of corporate social responsibility disclosure that is slightly below Pham Thi Bich Thu is a lecturer at
... The institutional theory highlights the relationship between organisational operations and social norms in order to exist. One firm has inevitable obligations to adapt to the external environment, which is values and beliefs shared in society (Carrasco et al.. 2015: Meyer & Rowan, 1977Scott, 1987). As the rights of women are increasingly protected, firms should create opportunities for women to participate in key positions of the company's boards. ...
Article
Objective This article studies whether a firm's environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reputational risk influences board gender diversity. Besides, we are also interested in the moderating role of gender equality and country development level toward the relationship between reputational risk and board gender diversity. Method Using a comprehensive sample of firms from 52 countries between 2007 and 2019, we employ multiple regression with fixed effects. Our findings remain robust when using alternative measures of variables and addressing endogeneity concerns by employing a two‐stage systems generalized method of moments estimation and an instrumental variable approach. Results Companies with high levels of ESG reputational risk tend to add more women directors to resolve these problems. Furthermore, the empirical results point out that the positive impact of ESG reputational risk on board gender diversity is more pronounced for countries with a higher degree of gender equality or developed countries. Conclusions Overall, our study is the first international study to link ESG reputational risk via media channels to board gender diversity.
... Nevertheless, the presence of women on the BOD was also found not to affect the timeliness of financial reporting (Lukason et al., 2021). The observed inconsistency may be linked to several factors, namely that countries with a greater tolerance for inequality in the distribution of power show a low representation of women on boards (Carrasco et al., 2015). as well as variations in the context of the country and culture, and the perception of the presence of women on the board, which can be a signal of tokenism (Malik et al., 2021). ...
Article
Full-text available
One of the crucial elements influencing the level of financial reporting is timeliness, which is also a characteristic of good governance; thus, this study reviews and synthesises existing literature on corporate governance factors that influence financial reporting timeliness. This systematic review is based on twenty articles published in the Scopus, Emerald, and Web of Science databases. By examining publications that employ measurements of financial reporting timeliness, five corporate governance factors can influence financial reporting timeliness. The systematic review findings show that specific characteristics of the audit committee, board of directors, size of audit firm, chief executive officer and chief financial officer influence the timeliness of financial reporting. The study also discovered the need to appoint an audit committee chairperson with accounting expertise and public accounting experience, which can improve financial reporting timeliness. Due to search constraints, this study may have excluded relevant publications. This study contributes to the academic discourse on agency theory in corporate governance, enhancing understanding and reducing management's opportunistic behaviour to achieve the company's goals and reduce agency costs. Furthermore, it can significantly assist legislators in resolving the highly debated issue of financial reporting timeliness by developing and improving guidelines and regulations for public companies.
... presence of women directors improved accuracy in accounting, increased involvement of the board in strategic discussions, and closer monitoring of top executive actions. Similarly, gender board diversity has been found to positively impact both the firm's financial performance as well as its social and ethical behavior (Carrasco et al., 2015). ...
Article
The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of quota requirements on the proportion of women serving on corporate boards in India. By examining not just the numbers but also the composition of women directors, including their profiles—age, education and professional experience, directorship type, appointment nature, industry representation—as well as patterns in their participation in board committees, compensation, tenure, and reasons for leaving, the study aimed to understand the extent to which boards have leveraged the presence of women on boards. The study includes all 1944 National Stock Exchange (NSE)-listed companies to whom the mandate applies. The results show an increase in the number of women on boards after the quota mandate; however, there is also a rise in the same women serving on multiple boards around the date of compliance to the quota mandate, suggesting symbolic inclusion of women on boards. Symbolic management was also evidenced in a few women holding chairperson positions, and proportionately, women’s leadership in committees such as audit committees being lower than their board presence. This research offers insights into the actions of Indian corporates to comply with the mandate and yet uphold the status quo, thus being symbolic in meeting the mandate.
... Regulative factors consist of laws and regulations that exert coercive pressure on companies to comply with the rules, significantly influencing CSR at the country level (Amor-Esteban et al., 2018). Normative factors encompass societal and organisational obligations and expectations that enforce adherence to what is deemed appropriate, thereby shaping societal culture (Carrasco et al., 2015). Additionally, cognitive-cultural factors represent the culturally-supported shared beliefs that place mimetic pressure on doing what is expected within the cultural context (Braga et al., 2021). ...
Article
Full-text available
Effectively addressing overwork culture in business remains a challenge, despite growing concerns about its negative impacts on employee wellbeing and productivity. This paper investigates corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives and stake-holder management promoted by large Japanese companies to address overwork culture. Based on interviews with managers and stakeholders from 31 companies, the study reveals that despite being part of CSR, overwork reduction initiatives often come into conflict with entrenched institutional pressures. These pressures are embedded in a cultural-cognitive and institutional context that prioritises quality and cooperation over individual productivity. We argue that improving stakeholder relationships is vital for developing a healthy and productive workstyle and for reactivating institutional dynamics that are fundamental to employee wellbeing, productivity and broader social sustainability. By clarifying the role and processes of stakeholder management, this paper contributes to the discourse on overwork and CSR, offering new insights into how to effectively address overwork culture. K E Y W O R D S corporate social responsibility, employee wellbeing, institutional factors, overwork, social sustainability, stakeholder management
... Institutional theory addresses the role of social influence on organizational actions, emphasising the importance of organizational legitimacy, which represents the level of acceptance from the external environment (Bilimoria, 2006;Carrasco et al., 2015;Meyer & Rowan, 1977). Organizations are perceived as legitimate if they act in a way that is consistent with societal expectations of organisational behaviour (Geiger & Marlin, 2012). ...
Article
Full-text available
Extensive research has been dedicated to the study of women on boards, revealing a gradual improvement in the actual representation of women as directors on firm boards. This paper presents a comprehensive critical theory framework that combines talent management with corporate governance, human resources, and gender theories to elucidate the underrepresentation of women on corporate boards. This conceptual study, conducted through theoretical literature analysis, identifies a knowledge gap in the limited attention given to studies on the talent of women serving on boards. The purpose of this essay was to explain the sluggish progress of female directors on boards globally, despite the implementation of different laws and the evident business rationale for enhancing women's presence on boards. This study incorporates divergent and unanimous critical analyses of women on boards research, which either facilitates or impedes the advancement of women to executive positions. The primary discoveries of this study enhance the existing information by pinpointing several obstacles that contribute to the underrepresentation of women on corporate boards. These problems stem from structural factors inside organizations, individual psychological factors, and societal preconceptions. These theoretical perspectives identify obstacles and biases in the process of recruiting, developing, and retaining women directors. The implementation of a suitable talent management solution can address these issues.
... Penting untuk diingat bahwa stereotip gender adalah generalisasi yang tidak mencerminkan keberagaman individu (Carrasco et al., 2015). Setiap orang memiliki kemampuan, minat, dan kepribadian yang unik, yang tidak selalu sesuai dengan stereotip gender yang ada. ...
... Research such as that of Nguyen et al. (2017) and Carrasco et al. (2015) and Pucheta-Martı´nez et al. (2021), has focused on cultural variables, such as power distance, time orientation, and gender equality, which affect a country's gender diversity on corporate boards. Moreover, a valuable study applying GLOBE data (House et al., 2004) and World Values Survey data by Parboteeah et al. (2005) show that managers' traditional gender role attitudes relate positively to national-level uncertainty avoidance and high-power distance. ...
Article
Full-text available
The purpose of this study is to contribute to a better understanding of the multiple cultural and institutional antecedents which can positively (or negatively) impact the incorporation of more women on corporate boards (WoCB). Many contemporary discourses about quotas versus voluntary actions by corporations as drivers of greater gender diversity on boards are largely based on cross-country mimicking. These discourses often fail to integrate country-level configurations and conditions, as drivers or barriers to change. We advance this research by seeking to understand the complexity of such multiple antecedents to getting WoCB. Results show multiple macro factors involved in getting WoCB in Europe. We test the complex inter-relations of factors such as legislation, cultural, societal, economic, political, and institutional variables, and their effects. Findings highlight important drivers of more women on boards such as gender equality in political empowerment and institutional settings; government-regulated maternity and paternity leave; specific legislative or soft quota policies; and societal cultural variables, such as (low) power distance and (high) assertiveness, as drivers of getting WoCB. These results prove the need to consider and complement legislative policies to specific cultural and institutional conditions in each country. To help policymakers, we provide insights into which multiple macro factors act as drivers or barriers in their organizations or societies for getting more WoCB. This will help decision makers in organizations or policymaking bodies to match gender diversity goals to the multiple country-level conditions they need to navigate, hence making a better world together.
... The few studies focusing on informal institutions (mostly culture) explored how countries' score on Hofstede's dimensions affect firm-level board independence and leadership structure (Li & Harrison, 2008), corporate governance ratings (Griffin et al., 2017), good governance codes' diffusion across countries (Haxhi & van Ees, 2010), the appointment of women to corporate boards (Carrasco et al., 2015), and CEO compensation (Tosi & Greckhamer, 2004). Departing from this tradition, a recent stream of research opened new avenues by exploring the "demand-side" of corporate governance: interestingly, the empirical results show that U.S. companies' CEO power is aligned with the cognitive or cultural standards that are prevalent in the region where they operate (Krause et al., 2016(Krause et al., , 2021. ...
Chapter
At the beginning of the 20th century, the publication of The Modern Corporation and Private Property opened the debate about the potential negative consequences associated with ownership dispersion. Since then, governance scholars aimed at understanding which corporate governance mechanisms could help companies both to prevent the agency problems connected with managerial opportunism, and to improve the strategic decision-making at the top of the firm. These early studies were mostly (or almost only) focused on the corporate governance of widely held companies listed in Anglo-American countries, thus neglecting for a long time the investigation of governance issues and mechanisms in other geographical settings. In addition, the main objective of these studies was to identify universal best practices (like an independent board, the separation of the CEO and Chair positions, or the use of high-powered incentives) that could address the agency problems of large listed companies. An implicit assumption in this stream of research was that firm-level agency problems do not vary across industry and macro environments, i.e., industry- and macro-environmental variables cannot either aggravate or attenuate agency problems. This long-standing tradition has been increasingly criticized by scholars arguing that industry- or macro-environmental variables could directly (or indirectly through their influence on governance mechanisms) affect corporate governance problems. Based on this idea, they started to develop sound theoretical models and to adopt rigorous empirical research methods in order to investigate if and how the characteristics of industry and macro environments could address firm-level agency problems. A first stream of studies argued and empirically analyzed whether some industry conditions (e.g., high competitiveness) could attenuate managerial discretion and, thus, partly solve firm-level agency problems. A second stream of research argued and empirically tested whether, instead, the high quality of the macro environment (e.g., the national or supranational level of investor protection, transparency, or rules enforcement) could directly address corporate governance problems, with beneficial effects on firm performance. More recently, scholars started to develop a multilevel investigation of corporate governance problems and mechanisms by including firm-, industry- and macro-environmental variables in their theoretical frameworks. In particular, through building new theoretical frameworks (e.g., based on the resource dependence or the institutional theory) and profiting from the development of new statistical techniques (like the multilevel statistical analysis or the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis), scholars increasingly explored if and how the interaction among firm-level governance mechanisms and industry- and/or macro-environmental variables could address agency problems and produce positive consequences on firm long-term results. This new research stream suggests that the industry and macro environments affect the effectiveness of governance mechanisms and processes, and so represents boundary conditions that limit the generalizability of our research findings outside a specific context. In this way, they invite governance scholars either to contextualize their theories and results about firm-level governance mechanisms within a specific industry and macro context, or to explore the potential influence of one or more contextual variables (e.g., at the industry, country, or supranational level). Thanks to the results of this new stream of research, scholars and practitioners have been able to develop a richer and more contextual understanding of both (a) the relationships among corporate governance mechanisms and industry- and/or macro-environmental conditions, and (b) their direct and indirect impact on various company results.
... Parallel concerns relate to the manner in which organizational fit may reinforce the organization's informal culture, commonly regarded as one of the most elusive sources of gender bias and bias against underrepresented groups (e.g., Carrasco, Francoeur, Labelle, Laffarga, & Ruiz-Barbadillo, 2015;Cox, 1991). The informal culture refers to the attitudes, beliefs, and norms cultivated within an organization, and is a function of the personalities, demographic characteristics, and socioeconomic background of prototypical organizational members, especially line managers and CEOs (Hambrick, 2007;O'Reilly, Caldwell, Chatman, & Doerr, 2014). ...
Article
Fit plays a key role in organizational entry decisions. However, selecting staff based on their anticipated fit is vulnerable to bias, potentially leading to inequality, stratification, and polarization. First, we focus on person–organization fit and critically examine arguments for and against the hegemonic perspective that selecting for person–organization fit is an effective, responsible, and ethically appropriate approach. This is a controversial subject with bifurcated positions. On the one hand, there should be benefits for employers and employees, such as increased performance, productivity, motivation, and engagement. On the other hand, there are some potentially major downsides, such as subjective bias, reduced diversity, and fears that greater homogeneity will bring about organizational dysfunction. We reveal that two forms of fit, organizational fit and interpersonal fit, have been conflated, and recommend disaggregating them. Second, we critically examine person–job fit and demonstrate that it too has both positive and negative sides. We produce a consolidated version of these different elements of “selecting for fit” that integrates the various literatures and informs policy. We advance five practical recommendations to improve the use of fit in personnel selection that help to realize its inclusive promise and minimize its deleterious effects.
... As such, Li and Harrison (2008) proved that regulations enclosed in a society's culture influence board structure. Further, Carrasco et al. (2015) reinforced that specific characteristics of the culture of a nation influence female presence on boards. Regarded as a component of societal culture (masculinity-femininity), Hofstede et al. (2010) exposed that men are oriented on profits, appreciation, progress, and tasks, while women are focused on having proper teamwork with superiors, collaboration, living space, and labor security. ...
Article
Full-text available
The essence of this study is to investigate the influence of the board gender diversity on firms’ accounting and market-based performance using a sample of Standard & Poor’s 500 companies belonging to the information technology sector over 12 years. Using the pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) method, the outcomes provide evidence for a positive influence of women on corporate boards on both measures of company performance, except for the percentage of female executives in the case of return on assets (ROA). After estimating the fixed effects and random-effects through panel data, the econometric outcomes show no statistically significant association among board gender diversity and ROA but a positive influence of the number and percentage of women on board on price-to-earnings ratio.
... However, the positive association with earnings management diminishes as the age gap between the independent directors and the CEO increases.Thus, older directors can be expected to bring a diverse range of ideas owing to their experience and they also provide greater stability to the BoD(Anderson et al. 2011) whereas female directors enable better monitoring. From an institutional theory perspective, BoD diversity has been argued to be a function of institutional systems, especially cultural and legal institutions(Grosvold and Brammer 2011;Saeed et al. 2016;Mensi-Klarbach et al. 2021;Carrasco et al. 2015) whereas from the agency theory perspective, BoD diversity is argued to result in enhanced monitoring(Mateos de Cabo et al. 2012;Terjesen et al. 2009;Carter et al. 2010). Thus, the next hypothesis is that:H4: More diversified BoDs are negatively associated with FSF. ...
Article
Financial statement fraud (FSF), generally committed by personnel in high ranks commanding substantial power, is regarded as one of the costliest corporate frauds which has affected both developed and developing nations. One of the reasons for the occurrence of FSF is the divergence in interests of the management (agents) and shareholders (principals). Agency theory propounds implementation of adequate compensation for achieving the alignment of interests of agents and principals. However, compensation is a double-edged sword, which may control or aggravate the incidence of FSF. Existing research has, primarily, focused on earnings management/restatement/FSF and its linkages with executive compensation. However, such analysis does not give a full picture, as directors (acting as agents of shareholders) are key monitors of the management and if they are effective in their monitoring function, then the incidence of FSF can be controlled. Hence, it is imperative that the directors’ interests are well aligned with those of the shareholders. Thus, this research attempts to view the incidence of FSF from the perspective of directors. Herein, an attempt is made to examine the causal relationship between FSF, corporate governance, and directors’ compensation and shareholding. The main objective of this study is to find out if there are any elements within the compensation packages of directors which may induce FSF. Using matched pairs methodology, this study examines the association between directors’ compensation and shareholding, corporate governance, and FSF in two of the worlds’ largest economies, China and the US as these two economies are diametrically opposite in their cultural make-up and in their institutional, political, legal, and governance orientation. China is a collectivist society whereas the US is individualistic. US follows the American corporate governance model whereas Chinese corporate governance paradigm is influenced by the German governance system. Further, in US the private sector plays a key role in the corporate sector whereas in China the state owned enterprises (SOEs) are still a dominant player in the corporate sector. This research contributes to literature on corporate governance, agency theory, institutional theory, and fraud. The results show that stock-based compensation can induce FSF. Directors’ shareholding in China and directors’ stock-based compensation in the US both have a significant positive association with the incidence of FSF, thereby implying that directors’ shareholding and stock-based compensation can induce fraud. This research finding has implications for practice as it questions the packaging of directors’ compensation and provides evidence against the use of stock-based compensation and shareholding for directors. On the governance front, the results indicate that type of auditor, CEO duality, and frequency of board meetings also influence the incidence of FSF. This research also points out that measures of good corporate governance are vital for all economies irrespective of their cultural and governance orientations. Additionally, the results of this study can be extended to other developed and developing economies operating within the same corporate governance paradigms as that of China and the US. From a theoretical perspective, this thesis provides additional evidence on agency theory, institutional theory, and the theory of fraud triangle. The results of the study indicate that monitoring mechanisms rather than compensation (specifically stock-based compensation and shareholding) are more effective in controlling the incidence of fraud as effective monitoring curbs the opportunity for fraud. Further, the efficacy of firm level monitoring/ governance holds irrespective of the institutional setting of a country. This thesis consists of three introductory chapters, three empirical essays, and a concluding chapter. Chapters 1 gives the background of the research enquiry and discusses the research agenda, research objectives, and research contribution. Chapter 2 provides a detailed review of literature covering literature on compensation, corporate governance, and financial statement fraud. Chapter 3 discusses in detail the research methodology including research philosophy, sample selection, and data analysis techniques used. Chapter 4 (Paper 1) conducts an analysis of the incidence of financial statement fraud in China using a sample of 903 fraud firms and 903 control firms during the period from 2005 to 2018. The findings indicate that directors’ shareholding is positively associated with FSF. The results also suggest that firm performance (i.e. return on assets (ROA)), board attributes (such as chief executive officer (CEO) duality, independence, and frequency of board meetings), leverage, auditor type, and ownership structure (i.e. shareholding of the top 10 shareholders) have a significant influence on FSF. Chapter 5 (Paper 2) investigates the incidence of FSF in the US using a sample of 387 fraud firms and 387 control firms during a 15 year-period from 2005 to 2019. The findings suggest that there is a positive association between the incidence of FSF and directors’ stock-based compensation, and a negative association between FSF and the average age of directors. Additionally, CEO duality, institutional ownership, firm performance (ROA), size of board of directors, size/type of auditor, frequency of board meetings, and firm size also have a significant influence on the incidence of FSF. Chapter 6 (Paper 3) undertakes a comparative analysis of China and the US in terms of their corporate governance orientation, institutional and cultural background, legal orientation and systems, and compensation practices. It also compares the fraud firms in US and China apart from identifying factors that affect the incidence of FSF in the two countries. The results suggest that firm-level variables and governance measures such as leverage, independent directors, CEO duality, frequency of board meeting, Big-4 auditor, institutional ownership, firm performance (ROA), and firm valuation (MV/BV) have a significant impact on the incidence of FSF whereas country-level variables such as culture, education, income disparity, and rule of law do not affect the incidence of FSF. The last chapter (Chapter 7) concludes the thesis by reflecting upon the key research findings, contributions of the research, and answers the research questions. It also discusses the implications, limitations, and recommendations of the research and also provides direction for future research.
Chapter
This Study examines whether and how gender diversity at the board and top management team (TMT) level, as well as commitment to the UN's Sustainable Development Goal on Gender Equality (SDG5), influences financial reporting quality by studying the independent auditors' assessment of the risk of material misstatement. Employing a large global dataset, they find a positive relationship between board gender diversity and audit fees, which is consistent with an active monitoring role by the board. In contrast, we do not find a significant effect of TMT gender diversity, nor for the firm's commitment to the SDG Goal on Gender Equality. In addition, we find that the relationship between board gender diversity and audit fees is mainly driven by firms in countries without mandatory board gender quotas, and that the results are especially strong in settings where there is a lower perception of corruption and a greater representation of females in parliament.
Chapter
While corporate gender diversity has substantially increased over the last decade in Latin America, there is still a large gender gap with North America and Europe. This study examines the country and firm-level drivers of this gap, providing insights into factors promoting higher gender diversity in Latin American companies. Our analysis shows that cultural dimensions greatly impact gender diversity at the board and TMT levels. Specifically, power distance and individualism positively influence gender diversity, while masculinity and uncertainty avoidance have negative effects. At the firm-level, we show that board size, board independence, ESG performance, and family ownership are important drivers of gender diversity in Latin America. We also explore the factors driving Latin American firms' commitment to SDG-5 on gender equality. Our findings highlight the necessity of understanding regional contexts to design effective policies for enhancing gender diversity in corporate leadership.
Article
Full-text available
Recently, women’s presence on top boards of directors has significantly increased, challenging the long standing of male-led corporate elites. In light of the still-developing literature, this article provides a century-long examination of women’s entry into the Spanish corporate elite, offering several original contributions. In addition to its pioneering input into the country’s historiography, the work uses a holistic model to introduce a comparative European approach. Moreover, it empirically examines the significant yet previously unexplored impact of elite training institutions on the advancement of female directors as well as their arrival through a national holding company and their presence in leading publicly traded companies. Findings showed four distinct stages in their trajectory: discriminatory exclusion, during the first third of the twentieth century; exceptional inclusion, with early positions in their family-owned firms; gradual incorporation, with increased political representation and expanded academic access in the latter decades of the last century; and promotion, supported by twenty-first-century political strategies, while still revealing the handicap of women’s delayed entry into the corporate network.
Article
Purpose Firms with gender diverse boards have been shown to have increased transparency and disclosure, resulting in reduced information asymmetry, which is a key factor influencing stock liquidity. This paper explores the influence of information asymmetry resulting from board gender diversity on stock liquidity. We examine the impact of gender diverse firms on stock liquidity in US listed firms from 2006 to 2022, capturing 28,280 firm-year observations across 4,349 firms. Using mediation models, we distinguish between direct and mediated effects to examine the impact of gender diverse boards on three dimensions of stock liquidity. We find a positive and significant relation between board gender diversity and stock liquidity, and our findings highlight the substantial mediating role of information disclosure in this association. To address concerns of endogeneity, we use instrumental variables regression, and our conclusions remain robust to a range of alternatives. Design/methodology/approach To investigate the association between board gender diversity and stock liquidity and the underling mechanism that drives the relation, we utilize a dataset comprising 4,349 listed US firms from 2006 to 2022. We adopt a comprehensive approach to measure stock liquidity that spans three dimensions: Amihud illiquidity (LIQ) as a representation of price impact, the quoted spread (SPREAD) to gauge transaction costs and the stock turnover (TURNOVER) to assess trading frequency. To evaluate board gender diversity, we examine female directors and female independent directors, utilizing both the percentage and the presence (as a binary variable). Findings The results of our analysis reveal not only a statistically significant effect of board gender diversity on liquidity but also demonstrate its economic significance. One standard deviation increase in the percentage of female directors (12% more female directors) is associated with a 5.8% decrease in price impact, a 5.1% reduction in transaction costs and a 3% increase in trading frequency. These findings highlight the material economic importance of the relationship, which stands in contrast to previous studies reporting only a 1% change in average stock liquidity in the Australian stock markets (Ahmed and Ali, 2017). To further investigate the underlying mechanism driving the association between board gender diversity and liquidity, we employ mediation models to separate the direct and mediated channels. Our results indicate that the effects of the percentage of female directors are mediated on liquidity (LIQ, SPREAD, and TURNOVER) through information disclosure, albeit with a relatively small magnitude (mediation proportion is 18.2, 3.9 and 22.9%, respectively). Research limitations/implications We include a comprehensive set of variables in our analysis and adopt an instrumental approach to mitigate endogeneity concern. However, we acknowledge the possibility of omitted variable biases or reverse causality in our empirical analysis. Practical implications Our study contributes to the understanding of the association between board gender diversity and stock liquidity, focusing on the underlying mechanisms. Gender diversity on boards enhances corporate governance, leading to reduced managerial opportunism (Adams and Ferreira, 2009; Nielsen and Huse, 2010). This, in turn, increases information transparency and results in increased stock liquidity. By exploring the empirical evidence of the impact of gender diverse boards on stock liquidity through the information channel, we provide valuable insights to the existing literature. Our study uses US data to examine this association, addressing the small sample concerns of prior research that may have contributed to inconsistent findings. Social implications This research can drive both economic and social transformations as it provides evidence that gender diverse boards lead to improved market outcomes. Originality/value Our study differs from previous research by incorporating all three dimensions of liquidity, ensuring a comprehensive analysis. Through our investigation, we aim to deepen understanding of how gender diversity on corporate boards shapes market dynamics and contributes to understanding of corporate governance and market efficiency. Our study investigates how the impact occurs by employing mediation models to separate the direct and mediated channels of impact. We show that the effects of gender diverse boards on liquidity are mediated through information disclosure.
Article
Research question/issue This study examines the influence of group behavior on board gender diversity and identifies obstacles to its diffusion. It investigates whether boards are influenced by group behavior in determining their gender composition and explores barriers that impede the diffusion process. Research findings/insights Analyzing a network of over 18,000 US‐listed boards observed over 20 years, we find a pattern of mimetic behavior, whereby boards imitate the proportion of women on boards (WoB) among their directly tied boards. We also identify resistant firms with low representation of women on their boards. Our findings suggest that, among those boards, there are heavily male‐dominated boards resisting the appointment of women, even when surrounded by women directors among their tied boards. The diffusion of board gender diversity is slowed down by these resistant boards, hindering the overall progress in increasing gender diversity within the board network. Theoretical/academic implications This research contributes insights into group behavior and resistance in board gender diversity. Adopting a network theory lens, our study sheds light on interactions between firms and their connected companies in terms of imitation practices. Drawing on social identity theory, we highlight the significance of the resistance to increasing women's representation exhibited by some boards. Practitioner/policy implications Resistant boards, despite group pressure, slow down the diffusion of board gender diversity within the network, leading to overall stagnation. Understanding the sources of resistance allows an exploration of alternative measures to promote diversity without rigid mandates.
Article
Full-text available
This study analyses the relationship between board gender diversity and the ESG scores for Spanish, French, German, and English listed companies. Previous academic literature shows controversial results regarding the benefits of female participation in boards of directors, however many studies have only used an aggregated indicator to measure performance or they do not have compared the results among countries. The empirical section of this research uses a sample formed by 205 companies from France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom for a period of 19 years (from 2002 to 2020). The results obtained through a panel data estimation confirm a positive and significant relationship between board gender diversity (BGD) and the social and the corporate governance score in all cases. However, the relationship between BGD and the environmental score is only confirmed in the case of Spain, France, and Germany. Therefore, even though in these countries, the actions to promote gender equality have been different and at different times, the results are mostly homogeneous.
Chapter
This chapter reviews existing literature meticulously which are relevant to the study of women’s representation in management. Before exploring the literature on the research area of women in management, it is essential to understand the concept of ‘sex’ and ‘gender’. Several key concepts are reviewed in this chapter. It first introduces the key concepts such as gender versus sex, patriarchy and feminism to understand the concept of women in society, gender gap, women’s current representation in management, gender inequality and factors acting as barriers and promoters of career success. It also reviews the literature on women in management in India and at the global level in terms of the concepts of Glass Ceiling, Glass Walls, Gender Diversity and Gender Inequality. Policies and actions taken up by the Government of India to bring equality and justice are also reviewed.
Chapter
In this chapter, based on our analysis, several issues of women in management are discussed. The new contribution of this study is also discussed. It is found in our research that even women executives along with the men executives also accepted several gender stereotypes existing in the industries. Historically, it is found that women are outsiders of the labour market under patriarchy and occupational segregation is evident in the industries. Further, it is one of the major barriers to women’s career growth. It is found in our study that, at the top-level management, the intensity of glass ceiling is higher than at other levels of management. Overall, women are facing several barriers in the management. In this chapter, several strategies women adopted for reaching the top management level are discussed, so that organisations can adopt policies that help women to grow in their career. It also suggests the unexplored field of research for future study on this issue.
Chapter
This study examines the internal and structural factors that influence gender diversity on the boards of publicly listed companies in Nigeria. To investigate this issue, a sample of 80 publicly listed companies on the Nigerian stock exchange from 2005 to 2015 was examined through ordinary least squares (OLS), Two-limit Tobit and Probit estimation techniques. According to the findings, board size, independence, ownership concentration, company size, and industry are significantly and positively associated with women’s representation on corporate boards. However, CEO gender and foreign directorship are negative. These findings suggest that these factors may shape the gender makeup of Nigerian companies’ boards of directors. Hence, in a country with weak institutional frameworks like Nigeria, companies themselves can promote good corporate governance through gender. This study sheds insight on internal governance and structural factors influencing women’s representation and adds to the body of literature already accessible on ethical and equality concerns for women’s representation on corporate boards.
Article
This study aims to investigate the moderating effect of country level institutional variables on the relationship between institutional ownership and board gender diversity. Using firm and country level data of three different cultural environments (Gulf Cooperation Council countries, UK, and France) for the years 2018–2019, this study concludes that institutional elements related to women (Women Tertiary education levels; legal support, Economic Participation and culture) create isomorphic pressure on firms that enhance the role of institutional owners in increasing women representation on board of directors. Other governance elements, such as ownership concentration, board independence and board size may indicate governance levels better than board gender diversity in certain institutional environments. The study recommended that board gender diversity should not be a priority for investors and portfolio managers in financial markets where reduced female labor market participation exists. Moreover, quotas may be a good tool for enhancing female representation among boards in contexts that have reduced female labor market participation and high levels of tertiary education attainment to maintain corporate sustainability.
Article
Full-text available
Drawing on faultline theory, this article proposes a multidimensional diversity index (MDI) to measure and assess board diversity. Herein, we contest that diversity needs to be considered across multiple dimensions, or faultlines. Based on the FTSE all-share non-financial firms (2005-2018), the proposed MDI captures the joint effect of differences in director attributes across four faultlines (surface, identity, demographic, and meso-level). After constructing our MDI, we examine how shifts in diversity impact firm risk. Our analysis indicates that moderate levels of diversification (between 0.25 and 0.75) are both typical across our sample and reduce riskiness. At extreme levels of diversification, however, we find that risk increases. We perform further analysis that supports these findings while also showing that, regardless of whether boards are moderately or extremely diversified, their faultline scores are significantly correlated with industry competition and financial risk.
Article
Despite mounting societal demands for increased female representation on corporate boards, some firms underconform to institutional expectations, exhibiting significantly lower female board representation than their country peers. We argue that a firm's entrepreneurial orientation is positively viewed by stakeholders, providing its corporate leaders with greater latitude to deviate from governance norms. Drawing from social role theory regarding beliefs about the association between entrepreneurial success and typical male traits, we propose that this substitutive legitimacy drives corporate leaders of firms with an entrepreneurial orientation to underconform due to a desire to maintain their firm's orientation. However, the history of female leadership in the firm and disclosure about environmental and social activities moderate the effect of entrepreneurial orientation on underconformity to female board representation norms. A generalized estimating equations analysis of 8410 firm‐year observations in 16 countries from 2012 to 2018 supports our predictions. Our study offers a novel explanation of heterogeneity in female board representation, informs theory of organizational non‐conformity to institutional norms, and highlights potentially unintended consequences of entrepreneurial orientation.
Article
Full-text available
The need to develop environmentally respectful business activities has led academics to propose the circular economy (CE) as a more sustainable production and consumption model than the linear model, where interest groups demand greater disclosure of information that makes it possible to evaluate the business transition towards the CE. Also, the planetary boundaries framework provides thresholds for different natural processes that are affected by business activities, so in this research, we link the CE to planetary boundaries by designing a score, and we analyse the presence of female directors and the role women play in the presentation of CE information that attends to planetary boundaries. We also examine the effect that national cultures characterized by high power distance and masculinity can have on their performance. We use a sample of 832 companies around the world from 2011 to 2020. The results show that women directors promote the presentation of CE information at a global level and disaggregated by CE issues, framed within planetary boundaries—a relation that is reinforced in societies with high power distance.
Article
Purpose As women’s position in the economy and society is often explained by cultural factors, this study aims to verify whether the observed changes in female empowerment in the region of Central and East European (CEE) countries of the European Union (EU) are associated with masculinity as a cultural trait. Design/methodology/approach The authors apply the k-means clustering method to group CEE countries into clusters with similar levels of female empowerment in two time points – 2013 and 2019. Next, the authors examine the clusters and cross-reference them with the national culture’s masculinity to explore the interrelations between female empowerment and cultural traits in the CEE countries and their development in time. Findings The analyses reveal that female empowerment is not uniform or stable across the CEE countries. The masculinity level is not strongly related to women’s position in these countries, and changes in female empowerment are not closely linked to masculinity. Originality/value Despite the tumultuous history of women’s empowerment in the CEE countries, the issues related to gender equality and cultural traits pertaining to the region are relatively understudied in the literature. By focusing on the CEE region, the authors fill the gap in examining the independencies between female empowerment and cultural masculinity.
Article
Purpose This study aims to shed light on the relationship between gender diversity and group performance by considering the moderating role of relative cultural distance. Drawing from the categorization–elaboration model (CEM), the authors hypothesize that gender-diverse collaborative learning groups perform better when a low level of relative cultural distance in country-level individualism–collectivism or power distance exists among group members. Design/methodology/approach To test this hypothesis, the authors conducted a study on 539 undergraduate students organized into 94 groups. The assessment of group performance was based on scores given by external raters. Findings The authors found that relative cultural distance significantly moderated the gender diversity–group performance relationship such that gender diversity was positively related to group performance when the collaborative learning group included members who similarly valued individualism–collectivism or power distance (i.e. relative cultural distance was low) and was negatively related to group performance when the collaborative learning group comprised members who differently valued individualism–collectivism or power distance (i.e. relative cultural distance was high). Originality/value This study contributes to understanding when gender diversity is positively associated with group performance by expanding the range of previously examined diversity dimensions to include relative cultural distance in country-level individualism–collectivism and power distance.
Article
Previous research related to board gender diversity typically focuses on international settings outside of the U.S. In this study, we examine the influence of boards, executives, and other stakeholders in appointing a female director candidate to a U.S. board, which is a voluntary regime dominated by male candidates. Following institutional theory, social identity theory, and resource dependence theory, we find that boards, executives, and institutional investors play persistent roles across various time periods, company sizes, and levels of CEO power. Workforce and customer stakeholders have become significant influencers only in more recent years and in smaller firms. Understanding factors that allow firms to successfully attract female board members in a voluntary regime should be of interest to board members and regulators worldwide. Our findings should also be of interest to accounting academics examining the role of board gender diversity in the oversight of audit, financial reporting, and tax policies. Data Availability: All data are publicly available from the cited sources. JEL Classifications: G34; M48.
Article
Guided by comparative human resource management (HRM) research, we review and critically assess the literature on gender equality in work settings. To this end, we consider quantitative articles published between 1980 and 2021. We apply a multi-level and multi-dimensional framework focused on three gender equality perspectives (i.e., Hofstede, GLOBE, and socioeconomic) and the HRM chain (e.g., policies and practices) as well as individual and organizational outcomes. Consistent with previous literature in the field of comparative HRM, we find that the three gender equality perspectives explain significant differences in the HRM chain as well as in both individual-level and organizational-level outcomes. Extending comparative HRM literature, we find that the three gender equality perspectives influence our research community differently, show similarities and differences in outcomes, associate with different effects (i.e., enabling and enhancing), and differ in the direction of such effects. Our study contributes to evidence-based policy and practice in organizations that align their HR strategies to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Gender Equality).
Article
Full-text available
Some U.S. firms have women directors and executives, while many do not. We seek to explain this heterogeneity. Using U.S. Census data from 1900, we find that U.S. counties with populations originating from countries with stronger gender-egalitarian beliefs have more women in the labor market and in STEM occupations, and lower gender-pay gaps. Firms headquartered in such counties have more women executives and directors. When firms move to more gender-egalitarian counties, the representation of women on board increases. Our findings are consistent with the idea that inherited beliefs about gender roles impact the labor market and corporate leadership.
Article
Full-text available
Gender Diversity in corporate board rooms is much talked about topic in research which generated interest among researchers to explore it further to know in depth insight of different issues revolving around it, how it's been catered to bring solution to related problems. The author felt that there is need to look at different available digital articles and analyse them to understand the development of this concept over the time period. The study also introduces new way of systematic literature review based on text mining, and network analysis for the studies based on Gender Diversity and their role on corporate boards.
Article
Purpose This phenomenological study aims to analyze the factors perceived by women to be important to their nomination and selection for board positions in Peruvian public companies. The importance of this study lies in understanding the qualities that are important for women to possess, as perceived by those women who have reached leadership positions, achieving empowerment and economic autonomy. Design/methodology/approach The study population consisted of 33 women who became company directors in 2019, according to the data of the Lima Stock Exchange. From this group, the authors conducted 12 in-depth interviews with those women who accepted to participate in this study. The information was analyzed based on the stages suggested by Moustakas (1994). Findings This study proposes a conceptual framework with 13 factors perceived by women during their nomination and selection for board positions in Latin American public companies, focusing on the case of Peru. The factors are training and learning, professional experience, self-awareness, attitude, resilience, networking, communication skills, empathy, “hard work,” capacity to make important decisions, soft skills, support networks and allies and passion for their work. Originality/value Based on the experiences of the participants, this study identified 13 critical factors for women to achieve leadership positions as board members. From a phenomenological approach, the relevance of said factors is that they have emerged from the point of view of women who live in a patriarchal and collectivistic culture with a high gender gap index.
Conference Paper
Full-text available
ÖZET Kültür, bir toplumun üyeleri tarafından paylaşılan ortak gelenek ve görenekler, dil, tarih ve değerler bütünüdür. Ayrıca, toplumu diğer toplumlardan ayıran en temel özelliğidir. Kültür, toplumdaki bireylerin davranışlarından, mimari eserlere kadar toplumla ilgili her öğede kendisini göstermektedir. Dolayısıyla, işletmelerin yapı ve işleyişini de etkilemektedir. Bu durumda, kadın yönetici oranlarının da kültürden etkilendiği ifade edilebilir. Bu çalışmada da üst düzey kadın yönetici oranları üzerinde kültürün etkisinin olup olmadığı regresyon analizi ile incelenmiştir. Kültür, Hofstede'in kültürel boyutları (güç mesafesi, belirsizlikten kaçınma, bireycilik/toplulukçuluk, erillik/dişillik, kısa/uzun dönem oryantasyon, hoşgörü/kısıtlama) üzerinden değerlendirilmiş ve gerekli veri Hofstede Insights web sayfasından alınmıştır. Ülke bazında üst düzey kadın yönetici oranları da Dünya Bankası'nın web sayfasından elde edilmiştir. Araştırmanın sonucunda, uzun dönem oryantasyon boyutunun kadın yönetici oranını pozitif yönde; hoşgörü boyutunun ise negatif yönde etkilediği ortaya çıkmıştır.
Article
Full-text available
El objetivo de alcanzar la igualdad entre mujeres y hombres en los diferentes órdenes de la vida ordinaria, evitar las conductas y los preceptos discriminatorios y lograr que la igualdad trascienda en los ámbitos sociales, económicos, culturales o políticos, posibilitando al tiempo la conciliación de la vida personal, familiar y laboral, es el amplio objetivo al que se dirige la Ley Orgánica 3/2007, de 22 de marzo, para la igualdad efectiva de mujeres y hombres (LOI). En una estrategia transversal, y con la finalidad de lograr la realización efectiva del principio de igualdad de trato y la eliminación de toda discriminación contra la mujer, la Ley contempla un conjunto de medidas en todos los órdenes de la vida política, jurídica y social, reconociendo al tiempo el derecho a la conciliación de la vida personal y laboral y el fomento de una mayor corresponsabilidad entre mujeres y hombres en la asunción de las obligaciones familiares, estableciendo la representación equilibrada entre mujeres y hombres en todos los ámbitos de las Administraciones Públicas, y proponiendo una composición equilibrada de hombres y mujeres en las listas electorales, sancionando las conductas discriminatorias por razón de sexo como nulas, regulando la indemnidad cuando se produce la conducta discriminatoria, mediante cláusulas de protección jurisdiccional efectiva. Y dentro de este conjunto de modificaciones legales, también resultan afectados los ámbitos sociolaborales y de Seguridad Social. En este trabajo se pretende analizar la «Ley de Igualdad» en los ámbitos sociolaborales, efectuándose en la primera parte unos comentarios sobre el principio de igualdad de género y la prohibición de discriminación, para luego destacar la aplicación del principio de igualdad de género en los ámbitos laborales, así como la incidencia en esa parcela de la conciliación de la vida personal, familiar y laboral. En una segunda parte, se analizan aquellos aspectos de la LOI con un mayor efecto en la Seguridad Social, a través de las suspensiones de la relación laboral en los casos de riesgo durante el embarazo, maternidad, paternidad, riesgo durante la lactancia o cuidados de familiares.
Article
Full-text available
This study investigates the joint effect of corporate ownership and board of directors’ diversity configurations on the success of strategic merger and acquisition (M&A) decisions. Board diversity is defined as the extent to which its demographic diversity as measured by the culture, nationality, gender and experience of its directors complements its statutory diversity. A theoretical framework linking ownership, board diversity and M&A strategic decision making is proposed and tested. Based on a sample of 289 M&A decisions undertaken by Canadian firms over the period 2000–2007, demographic diversity is found to have a clear and non-linear effect on M&A performance while statutory diversity is of limited influence. Ownership is found to influence the effect of diversity, making the relation finer and more precise. This has practical implications. First, statutory diversity is not sufficient for well-performing boards. Also, ownership is an important factor. The most advocated board diversity aimed at insuring the board’s independence is not valid across all ownership configurations. From a public policy perspective, results provide support for the principles-based approach in governance. Governance regimes should encourage the search for a balance between board diversity and the need for cohesion that best serves the firm’s purpose and obligations.
Chapter
Full-text available
Publisher Summary This chapter addresses the universals in the content and structure of values, concentrating on the theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries, and its four basic issues: substantive contents of human values; identification of comprehensive set of values; extent to which the meaning of particular values was equivalent for different groups of people; and how the relations among different values was structured. Substantial progress has been made toward resolving each of these issues. Ten motivationally distinct value types that were likely to be recognized within and across cultures and used to form value priorities were identified. Set of value types that was relatively comprehensive, encompassing virtually all the types of values to which individuals attribute at least moderate importance as criteria of evaluation was demonstrated. The evidence from 20 countries was assembled, showing that the meaning of the value types and most of the single values that constitute them was reasonably equivalent across most groups. Two basic dimensions that organize value systems into an integrated motivational structure with consistent value conflicts and compatibilities were discovered. By identifying universal aspects of value content and structure, the chapter has laid the foundations for investigating culture-specific aspects in the future.
Article
Full-text available
We reason that agency theory's behavioral assumptions may too closely reflect the US institutional context to explain the governance heritages that exist elsewhere. We propose that what constitutes opportunistic behavior and what can be done to limit it may vary due to differences in national background and formal institutions. We then test the validity of this nationally bounded model using historical sociology analysis of three nations whose corporate governance heritages are believed to differ (USA, Sweden, and France). Specifically, we review their political, cultural, and economic institutions to explore the different ways that their governance practices have evolved and infer causes for these historical variations.
Book
This book contends that beneath the frenzied activism of the sixties and the seeming quiescence of the seventies, a "silent revolution" has been occurring that is gradually but fundamentally changing political life throughout the Western world. Ronald Inglehart focuses on two aspects of this revolution: a shift from an overwhelming emphasis on material values and physical security toward greater concern with the quality of life; and an increase in the political skills of Western publics that enables them to play a greater role in making important political decisions.
Article
Careful review of extant research addressing the relationships between board composition, board leadership structure, and firm financial performance demonstrates little consistency in results. In general, neither board composition nor board leadership structure has been consistently linked to firm financial performance. In response to these findings, we provide meta-analyses of 54 empirical studies of board composition (159 samples, n=40,160) and 31 empirical studies of board leadership structure (69 samples, n=12,915) and their relationships to firm financial performance. These-and moderator analyses relying on firm size, the nature of the financial performance indicator and various operationalizations of board composition-provide little evidence of systematic governance structure/financial performance relationships. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Article
Objective. This paper examines the impact of social structural factors on the extent of gender inequality in authority cross-nationally, Methods. The authors use multiple regression techniques with a 110-nation data set compiled by the United Nations to examine the impact of economic, social, and cultural variables on women's representation in administrative/managerial occupations and elected political positions. Results. The results indicate that gender inequality in administrative occupations is greater in higher GNP nations and lower where women's educational enrollment is high. By contrast, high rates of female labor force participation - but not high levels of women's educational attainment -decrease male predominance in national parliaments. Conclusions. Thus, neither high levels of economic prosperity nor development of women's "human capital" through education and employment necessarily results in greater access to authority positions for women.
Article
Many formal organizational structures arise as reflections of rationalized institutional rules. The elaboration of such rules in modern states and societies accounts in part for the expansion and increased complexity of formal organizational structures. Institutional rules function as myths which organizations incorporate, gaining legitimacy, resources, stability, and enhanced survival prospects. Organizations whose structures become isomorphic with the myths of the institutional environment-in contrast with those primarily structured by the demands of technical production and exchange-decrease internal coordination and control in order to maintain legitimacy. Structures are decoupled from each other and from ongoing activities. In place of coordination, inspection, and evaluation, a logic of confidence and good faith is employed.
Article
This research reports the results of a study of women serving on boards of directors of Canadian private and public sector organizations. These women (N = 278) were an impressive and talented group (eduction, professional designations). In addition, they brought a variety of backgrounds and expertise to their director responsibilities. Most were nominated as a result of recommendations from current board members, CEOs, or someone who knew board members or CEOs. Thus personal relationships (the old boy's network) as well as track records and appropriate expertise were important factors in board nominations. Women directors thought they had some influence on women's issues with their boards and board companies. A majority believed that board members should be more diverse, including more women and fewer male CEOs. However they indicated several barriers faced by women in being selected and nominated for board appointments.
Article
Women are increasing in number among corporations' boards of directors, yet their representation is far from uniform across firms. In this study, we adopted a resource dependence theory lens to identify organizational predictors of women on boards. We tested our hypotheses using panel data from the 1,000 U.S. firms that were largest in terms of sales between 1990 and 2003. We found that organizational size, industry type, firm diversification strategy, and network effects (linkages to other boards with women directors) significantly impact the likelihood of female representation on boards of directors.
Article
Using a sample from 22 countries, I investigate the relations between the accuracy of analysts' earnings forecasts and the level of annual report disclosure, and between forecast accuracy and the degree of enforcement of accounting standards. I document that firm-level disclosures are positively related to forecast accuracy, suggesting that such disclosures provide useful information to analysts. I construct a comprehensive measure of enforcement and find that strong enforcement is associated with higher forecast accuracy. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that enforcement encourages managers to follow prescribed accounting rules, which, in turn, reduces analysts' uncertainty about future earnings. I also find evidence consistent with disclosures being more important when analyst following is low and with enforcement being more important when more choice among accounting methods is allowed.
Article
This study examines the proposition that the presence of women on a company's board of directors is positively associated with gender diversity in its top management team. Regression analyses indicate that after controlling for firm size and profits, industry type and profits, number of officers, and number of board members, the number of women corporate directors on a Fortune 500 board is positively associated with the number of women officers at the company, the number of women officers holding line jobs, the presence of a critical mass of women officers, the number of women officers with high-ranking or "clout" titles, and the presence of women among the company's top earners. These results indicate the importance of women board members for top management team diversity, and suggest that companies striving for increased gender diversity in their senior officer ranks and more facilitative environments for their top women employees should pay attention to their board-level representation of women.
Book
The revolutionary study of how the place where we grew up constrains the way we think, feel, and act, updated for today's new realities The world is a more dangerously divided place today than it was at the end of the Cold War. This despite the spread of free trade and the advent of digital technologies that afford a degree of global connectivity undreamed of by science fiction writers fifty years ago. What is it that continues to drive people apart when cooperation is so clearly in everyone's interest? Are we as a species doomed to perpetual misunderstanding and conflict? Find out in Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. A veritable atlas of cultural values, it is based on cross-cultural research conducted in seventy countries for more than thirty years. At the same time, it describes a revolutionary theory of cultural relativism and its applications in a range of professions. Fully updated and rewritten for the twenty-first century, this edition: Reveals the unexamined rules by which people in different cultures think, feel, and act in business, family, schools, and political organizations Explores how national cultures differ in the key areas of inequality, collectivism versus individualism, assertiveness versus modesty, tolerance for ambiguity, and deferment of gratification Explains how organizational cultures differ from national cultures, and how they can--sometimes--be managed Explains culture shock, ethnocentrism, stereotyping, differences in language and humor, and other aspects of intercultural dynamics Provides powerful insights for businesspeople, civil servants, physicians, mental health professionals, law enforcement professionals, and others Geert Hofstede, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of Organizational Anthropology and International Management at Maastricht University, The Netherlands. Gert Jan Hofstede, Ph.D., is a professor of Information Systems at Wageningen University and the son of Geert Hofstede.
Article
1 An extensive 19-year s udy of 215 Fortune 500 firms shows a strong correlation between a strong record of promoting women into the executive suite and high profi ability. Three measures of profi ability were used to demonstrate that the 25 Fortune 500 firms with the best record of promoting women to high positions are between 18 and 69 percent more profitable than the median Fortune 500 firms in their industries. t t t Women in the Executive Suite Correlate to High Profits The glass ceiling issue is one of the most emotional managerial issues of the past decade. Although a great deal of anecdotal evidence exists, there has been very little empirical work to support even the most basic contentions concerning the issue. One of the areas most in need of evidence involves profitability. It is alleged that firms that have had a good track record of promoting women to the executive suite have found that practice to have been profitable, but there is little empirical evidence that the assertion is, in fact, true. In order to test that assertion, we evaluated the record of 215 Fortune 500 firms concerning the inclusion of women in the executive suite for the 19-year period from 1980 to 1998. A point system was devised, and the top 25 firms for women were then evaluated on three different measures of profitability relative to the median Fortune 500 firms in their industries for 1998. All three measures demonstrated that higher scores were correlated to higher profitability.
Article
Although the number of women in middle management has grown quite rapidly in the last two decades, the number of female CEOs in large corporations remains extremely low. This article examines many explanations for why women have not risen to the top, including lack of line experience, inadequate career opportunities, gender differences in linguistic styles and socialization, gender-based stereotypes, the old boy network at the top, and tokenism. Alternative explanations are also presented and analyzed, such as differences between female leadership styles and the type of leadership style expected at the top of organizations, feminist explanations for the underrepresentation of women in top management positions, and the possibility that the most talented women in business often avoid corporate life in favor of entrepreneurial careers.
Article
Mechanisms through which economic agents coordinate their activities differ dramatically across nations. These differences largely persist despite an increasing internationalization of economies. This thesis investigates the causes of differences in organ ation of industrial finance, in governance of industrial relations, and in processes of economic policy formation and implementation among industrialized Western countries. The analysis of potential explanations reveals that, in each case, the best explan ion for cross-country differences in governance mechanisms is provided by differences of national cultures. The ways in which economic interactions are governed prove to be very closely related to cultural characteristics of societies in which they take p ce. We investigate mechanisms through which national culture influences the character of mechanisms of economic governance.
Article
Do outside directors on corporate boards make a difference in firm performance during insti- tutional transitions? What leads to the practice of appointing outside directors in the absence of legal mandate? This article addresses these two important questions by drawing not only on agency theory, but also resource dependence and institutional theories. Taking advantage of China's institutional transitions, our findings, based on an archival database covering 405 pub- licly listed firms and 1211 company-years, suggest that outsider directors do make a difference in firm performance, if such performance is measured by sales growth, and that they have little impact on financial performance such as return on equity (ROE). The results also document a bandwagon effect behind the diffusion of the practice of appointing outsiders to corporate boards. The article not only highlights the need to incorporate multiple theories beyond agency theory in corporate governance research, but also generates policy implications in light of the recent trend toward having more outside directors on corporate boards in emerging economies. Copyright  2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Article
While it is widely assumed that greater diversity in corporate governance will enhance a firm’s corporate social performance, this study considers an alternative thesis which relates managerial control to corporate philanthropy. The study empirically evaluates both board diversity and managerial control of the board as possible predictors of corporate philanthropy. The demonstration of a positive relationship between managerial control and corporate philanthropy contributes to our understanding that corporate social performance results from a complex set of economic and social motives. Possible future research and managerial implications are discussed.
Article
This research examines the relationship between economic development and the integration of women into economic activity in 162 countries. Polynomial regression using indices of femaleness for major industrial sectors and occupational categories assesses this relationship. The data suggest no clear-cut linear or curvilinear relationship. Economic development appears to be unrelated to the integration of women into important sectors of the national economy, namely the agricultural, mining and manufacturing sectors. The data suggest that economic development is also unrelated to the integration of women in production occupations and the important decision-making category of administration and management. Of the seventeen areas of economic activity examined in this article, economic development appears to be related to only two areas. Higher levels of economic development are associated with higher levels of integration of women in clerical occupations and in the transport, storage, and communication sector of the economy.
Article
This study draws on the concepts of relative standing to explain the post-merger performance of recently acquired European firms. We used a 2 × 3 sampling design where we surveyed top managers of British and French firms that were acquired by British, French, and U.S. firms as to their perceptions of cultural compatibility with the buying firms, their sense of loss of autonomy since the merger, and post-merger performance. While we found that the theory adequately explains the post-merger performance of both British and French firms, suggesting that this primarily ‘made-in-the-United States’ organization theory extends beyond the cultural domain of the United States, we also found an aspect of the theory that reflects a possible cultural bias. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Article
Foreword - Harry Triandis Preface - Robert J. House Part 1 Introduction Chapter 1 Introduction - Robert House Chapter 2 Overview of the Globe Research Program - Robert House and Mansour Javidan Part 2 Literature Chapter 3 Literature Review - Mansour Javidan and Robert House Chapter 4 Cultures and Leadership - Peter Dorfman and Robert House Chapter 5 The Impact of Societal Culture and Industry on Organizational Culture - Marcus Dickson, Renee BeShears, and Vipin Gupta Part 3 Project GLOBE: Research Methodolgy - Overview by Paul Hanges Chapter 6 Research Design - Robert House, Paul Hanges, and Peter Dorfman Chapter 7 The Linkage Between GLOBE Findings and Other Cross Cultural Information - Mansour Javidan and Markus Hauser Chapter 8 The Development and Validation of the GLOBE Culture and Leadership Scales - Paul Hanges and Marcus Dickson Chapter 9 Multi-source Construct Validity of GLOBE Scales - Vipin Gupta, Mary Sully de Luque, and Robert House Chapter 10 Regional and Climate Clustering of Social Cultures - Vipin Gupta, Paul Hanges, Peter Dorfman, and Robert House Chapter 11 Rational for GLOBE Statistical Analysis: Societal Rankings and Test of Hypotheses - Paul Hanges, Marcus Dickson, and Mina Sipe Part 4 Empirical Findings - Intro by Mansour Javidan Chapter 12 Performance Orientation - Mansour Javidan Chapter 13 Future Orientation - Neal Ashkanasy, Vipin Gupta, Melinda Mayfield, and Edwin Trevor-Roberts Chapter 14 Cross-Cultural differences in Gender Egalitarianism: Implications for Societies, Organizations, and Leaders - Cynthia G. Emrich, Florence L. Denmark, and Deanne Den Hartog Chapter 15 Assertiveness - Deanne Den Hartog Chapter 16 Individual and Collectivism - Michele J. Gelfand, D.P.S. Bhawuk, Lisa H. Nishii, & David J. Bechtold Chapter 17 Power Distance - Dale Carl, Vipin Gupta with Mansour Javidan Chapter 18 Humane Orientation in Societies, Organizations, and Leader Attributes - Hayat Kabasakal and Muzaffer Bodur Chapter 19 Uncertainty Avoidance - Mary Sully de Luque, Mansour Javidan, and Ram Aditya Chapter 20 Societal, Cultural, and Industry Influences on Organizational Culture - Felix Brodbeck, Paul Hanges, Marcus Dickson, Vipin Gupta, and Peter Dorfman Chapter 21 Leadership and Cultural Variation: The Identification of Culturally Endorsed Leadership Profiles - Peter Dorfman, Paul Hanges, and Felix Brodbeck Part 5 Conclusion Chapter 22 Conclusions, (theoratical and practical) Implications, and future directions - Mansour Javidan, Robert House, Peter Dorfman, Vipin Gupta, Paul Hanges, and Mary Sully de Luque Appendix A Correlations GLOBE Scales - Paul Hanges Appendix B Response bias Outliers - Paul Hanges Appendix C Hierarchical Linear Modeling - Paul Hanges, Mina Sipe, and Ellen Godfrey Appendix D Confidence Internval Demonstration - Paul Hanges
Article
This study draws on the concepts of relative standing to explain the post-merger performance of recently acquired European firms. We used a 2 × 3 sampling design where we surveyed top managers of British and French firms that were acquired by British, French, and U.S. firms as to their perceptions of cultural compatibility with the buying firms, their sense of loss of autonomy since the merger, and post-merger performance. While we found that the theory adequately explains the post-merger performance of both British and French firms, suggesting that this primarily ‘made-in-the-United States’ organization theory extends beyond the cultural domain of the United States, we also found an aspect of the theory that reflects a possible cultural bias. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Article
The representation of women in national legislatures across the globe remains small. Theoretical accounts of the variation that does exist have not been fully tested. I test social structural, political, and ideological hypotheses with a large cross-national sample for two cross-sectional time periods—1975 and 1988. A panel study across the two periods allows tests of lagged effects. The results show that political and ideological variables are strongly significant and that women's position in the social structure, although often hypothesized as important, is not.
Article
Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to examine the gender composition and structure of the board of directors in not‐for‐profit organisations and their relation to firm‐level entrepreneurship. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected through a survey sent to Swedish riding schools. The paper focuses on not‐for‐profit associations and the analysis is based on 60 respondents. The data were analysed by multivariate methods. Findings – The overall gender composition of boards had no influence on firm‐level entrepreneurship. However, a high proportion of women in powerful positions were found to have a positive influence on one of the study's two dimensions of firm‐level entrepreneurship, i.e. strategic opportunism. No influence concerning gender in powerful positions was found on risk taking, the other dimension of firm‐level entrepreneurship. Originality/value – The attention to gender composition not only focuses on the board at large, but also highlights the specific positions of the chairperson, secretary and treasurer in the board structure. Another valuable insight concerns firm‐level entrepreneurship, here treated as a two‐dimensional concept, consisting of strategic opportunism and risk taking, which finds support in the analysis. Further, the empirical data were collected from an industry that includes a high proportion of women on the boards, i.e. the Swedish riding school industry. The study contributes to the debate concerning the gender composition on the board of directors where a high proportion of women in powerful positions is positively related with strategic opportunism.
Article
The representation of women in organizations has become an increasingly important topic for academics and practitioners. Despite the growing presence of women in the workforce, representation of women in corporate governance is relatively low. The present study examined the gender composition of corporate boards as a function of organization size and industry. Data from government filings were collected for the top 100 public companies in a suburban region of the USA. Results indicated a positive relationship between organization size and women on boards. Partial support was found for hypotheses related to industry. Practical implications and areas for future study are discussed.
Book
The Second Edition of this classic work, first published in 1981 and an international bestseller, explores the differences in thinking and social action that exist among members of more than 50 modern nations. Geert Hofstede argues that people carry "mental programs" which are developed in the family in early childhood and reinforced in schools and organizations, and that these programs contain components of national culture. They are expressed most clearly in the different values that predominate among people from different countries. Geert Hofstede has completely rewritten, revised and updated Cultures Consequences for the twenty-first century, he has broadened the book's cross-disciplinary appeal, expanded the coverage of countries examined from 40 to more than 50, reformulated his arguments and a large amount of new literature has been included. The book is structured around five major dimensions: power distance; uncertainty avoidance; individualism versus collectivism; masculinity versus femininity; and long term versus short-term orientation. --Publisher.
Article
This research examined the adoption of work-life programs and the impact of work-life programs on firm productivity. Human resource executives in a national sample of 658 organizations provided survey data on firm characteristics and work-life programs. In these 658 organizations, the percentage of professionals and the percentage of women employed were positively related to the development of more extensive work-life programs. Productivity data were obtained from CD Disclosure for 195 public, for-profit firms. Significant interaction effects indicated that in these 195 firms work-life programs had a stronger positive impact on productivity when women comprised a larger percentage of the workforce and when a higher percentage of professionals were employed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Article
Careful review of extant research addressing the relationships between board composition, board leadership structure, and firm financial performance demonstrates little consistency in results. In general, neither board composition nor board leadership structure has been consistently linked to firm financial performance. In response to these findings, we provide meta-analyses of 54 empirical studies of board composition (159 samples, n = 40,160) and 31 empirical studies of board leadership structure (69 samples, n = 12,915) and their relationships to firm financial performance. These—and moderator analyses relying on firm size, the nature of the financial performance indicator, and various operationalizations of board composition—provide little evidence of systematic governance structure/financial performance relationships. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Article
This study examines the relationship between board diversity and firm value for Fortune 1000 firms. Board diversity is defined as the percentage of women, African-Americans, Asians, and Hispanics on the board of directors. This research is important because it presents the first empirical evidence examining whether board diversity is associated with improved financial value. After controlling for size, industry, and other corporate governance measures, we find significant positive relationships between the fraction of women or minorities on the board and firm value. We also find that the proportion of women and minorities on boards increases with firm size and board size but decreases as the number of insiders increases. For women, there is an inverse relationship between the percentage of women on boards and the average age of the board.
Article
Manuscript Type: Empirical Research Question/Issue: We examine the business case for the inclusion of women and ethnic minority directors on the board. Specifically, we investigate the relationship between the number of women directors and the number of ethnic minority directors on the board and important board committees and financial performance measured as return on assets and Tobin's Q. Research Findings/Insights: We do not find a significant relationship between the gender or ethnic diversity of the board, or important board committees, and financial performance for a sample of major US corporations. Our evidence also suggests that the gender and ethnic minority diversity of the board and firm financial performance appear to be endogenous. Theoretical/Academic Implications: Reasonable theoretical arguments drawn from resource dependence theory, human capital theory, agency theory, and social psychology suggest that gender and ethnic diversity may have either a positive, negative, or neutral effect on the financial performance of the firm. Our statistical analysis supports the theoretical position of no effect, either positive or negative. Our results are consistent with a contingency explanation because the effect of the gender and ethnic diversity of the board may be different under different circumstances at different times. Over several companies and time periods, the results could offset to produce no effect. Practitioner/Policy Implications: The results of our analysis do not support the business case for inclusion of women and ethnic minorities on corporate boards. However, we find no evidence of any negative effect either. Our evidence implies that decisions concerning the appointment of women and ethnic minorities to corporate boards should be based on criteria other than future financial performance.
Article
This paper presents a comprehensive archival examination of FTSE 100 companies in the period 2001–2005, focusing on the relationship between the presence of women on company boards and both accountancy-based and stock-based measures of company performance. Consistent with work by Adams, Gupta and Leeth this analysis reveals that there was no relationship between women's presence on boards and ‘objective’ accountancy-based measures of performance (return on assets, return on equity). However, consistent with ‘glass cliff’ research there was a negative relationship between women's presence on boards and ‘subjective’ stock-based measures of performance. Companies with male-only boards enjoyed a valuation premium of 37% relative to firms with a woman on their board. Results support claims that women are found on the boards of companies that are perceived to be performing poorly and that their presence on boards can lead to the devaluation of companies by investors. Yet the findings also indicate that perceptions and investment are not aligned with the underlying realities of company performance.
Article
Manuscript Type: Empirical Research Question/Issue: How and to what extent does national culture influence the composition and leadership structure of the boards of directors of multinational firms? Research Findings/Insights: Societal norms about corporate structure are treated as components of national culture. Hofstede's measures of national culture were shown to predict the board composition and leadership structure of firms based in that culture. The hypotheses were tested with data on 399 multinational manufacturing firms based in 15 industrial countries. The results suggest that national culture can have strong effects on corporate governance and should be considered in any transnational study. Theoretical/Academic Implications: The predictive accuracy of the culture variables provides strong support for the argument that norms embedded in a society's culture affect organizational structure, at least at the board level. The results of the study contribute to our understanding of institutional theory in explaining observed variations in corporate board composition and leadership structure across countries. By linking board composition to the cultural environment, institutional theory provides an explicit framework for analyzing variations in board structure across national boundaries. Practitioner/Policy Implications: When considering board composition and leadership structure, it is important to consider national culture norms. The findings of the study also have important implications for multinational firms setting up boards for their subsidiaries in different countries.
Article
Surveys of the largest U.S. corporations routinely demonstrate that the role of women in corporate governance is acutely limited. In this research we examine how high-growth entrepreneurial sectors of the economy compare to that standard. We posit that high demand labor markets, enhanced higher education of women, and dynamic industry and firm conditions could result in a greater participation of women executives in firms moving toward major corporate status through initial public offering. However, our study results show few significant differences between women's participation in high-growth, high-potential firms versus the Fortune 500. Several of the findings directly contradict our hypotheses, with lower rates of women as board directors and a greater likelihood of the executive team being composed exclusively of men in high-growth, high-potential firms. Women are not present in the top leadership spots of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Board Chair in either sector, and within high-growth firms are significantly less likely to be found on the boards of venture capital backed companies. The implications of these findings for companies, for policy, and for women and men planning careers in business are discussed.
Article
Research has shown that accounting follows different patterns in different parts of the world. There have been claims that national systems are determined by environmental factors. In this context, cultural factors have not been fully considered. This paper proposes four hypotheses on the relationship between identified cultural characteristics and the development of accounting systems, the regulation of the accounting profession and attitudes towards financial management and disclosure. The hypotheses are not operationalized, and empirical tests have not been carried out. They are proposed here as a first step in the development of a theory of cultural influence on the development of accounting systems.