Board gender diversity and the capital structure of microfinance institutions: A global analysis

Michael Adusei and Emmanuella Yaa Takyiwah Obeng

The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, 2019, vol. 71, issue C, 258-269

Abstract: As far as we know, the question of whether increasing gender diversity on boards of microfinance institutions carries any implications for their financing decisions has not been answered. To answer this question, we employ a global dataset from 441 microfinance institutions located in 69 countries to investigate the effect of board gender diversity on capital structure. A robust negative and statistically significant effect of board gender diversity on capital structure is produced by the three panel regression estimation techniques used in this paper. Our conclusion is that board gender diversity is a significant driver of MFI’s capital structure and that it decreases the gearing levels of MFIs and, by extension, lowers their exposure to bankruptcy risk.

Keywords: Board gender diversity; Capital structure; Microfinance institutions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:quaeco:v:71:y:2019:i:c:p:258-269

DOI: 10.1016/j.qref.2018.09.006

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