Female directors, key committees, and firm performance

Colin Green () and Swarnodeep Homroy

No 95922258, Working Papers from Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department

Abstract: There is pressure to increase female representation on corporate boards. A number of studies have found no, or in some cases a negative, effect of female representation on boards and firm performance. We demonstrate robust positive and economically meaningful effects on firm performance of female representation on European boards. Moreover, while previous work has considered female representation broadly, we focus on membership of committees involved explicitly in firm governance. We demonstrate marked, larger, e¤ects on performance of having female representation on these committees. Finally, we reconcile this evidence with prior US and UK evidence and demonstrate a positive performance impact of female committee memberships. Our evidence is supportive of the expansion of female involvement in corporate governance from a financial performance perspective.

Keywords: Board of directors; Female director; Diversity; Performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G30 G34 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-cfn, nep-eur, nep-hrm and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:lan:wpaper:95922258

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