Wives’ empowerment and corporate financial risk in Chinese family firms

Ying Wang, Huimin Li, Leng Ling and Hongfeng Peng

Finance Research Letters, 2022, vol. 44, issue C

Abstract: We investigate the economic empowerment of founders’ wives in public Chinese family firms. We show that female cofounders hold higher voting rights when their firms are headquartered in regions where gender stereotypes rooted in local social norms are less prevalent. We also find that firms whose female cofounders wield greater influence, through higher voting rights and more leadership roles, retain more cash, use lower financial leverage, and have lower earnings risk. Our findings have implications on the extension of wives’ marital power in the household to corporate decision-making, as well as on gender difference in the context of risk preference.

Keywords: Gender; Marriage; Family firms; Firm risk (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D10 G32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:finlet:v:44:y:2022:i:c:s1544612321001422

DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2021.102061

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