IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jfnres/v46y2023i4p949-991.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Board gender diversity and acquisition choices

Author

Listed:
  • Abeyratna Gunasekarage
  • Mehdi Khedmati
  • Kristina Minnick
  • Syed Shams

Abstract

We investigate the influence of gender diversity on the acquisition choices of bidding firms and find that firms with greater gender diversity are more likely to acquire nonlisted targets, use cash as the method of payment, and purchase firms in similar industries. Results show that these preferences are significantly influenced by female directors' financial expertise, target industry experience, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) experience, academic and professional qualifications, and networks. The percentage of female directors on boards is positively correlated with the market response to the announcement of acquisition choices preferred by female directors. Furthermore, bidders improve efficiency and accumulate long‐term value gains through the contributions made by their female directors to these acquisition choices.

Suggested Citation

  • Abeyratna Gunasekarage & Mehdi Khedmati & Kristina Minnick & Syed Shams, 2023. "Board gender diversity and acquisition choices," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 46(4), pages 949-991, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jfnres:v:46:y:2023:i:4:p:949-991
    DOI: 10.1111/jfir.12345
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jfir.12345
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jfir.12345?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brown, Stephen J. & Warner, Jerold B., 1985. "Using daily stock returns : The case of event studies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 3-31, March.
    2. Mara Faccio & Ronald W. Masulis, 2005. "The Choice of Payment Method in European Mergers and Acquisitions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(3), pages 1345-1388, June.
    3. Field, Laura Casares & Mkrtchyan, Anahit, 2017. "The effect of director experience on acquisition performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 488-511.
    4. Shams, Syed M.M. & Gunasekarage, Abeyratna & Colombage, Sisira R.N., 2013. "Does the organisational form of the target influence market reaction to acquisition announcements? Australian evidence," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 89-108.
    5. Niessen, Alexandra & Ruenzi, Stefan, 2007. "Sex matters: Gender differences in a professional setting," CFR Working Papers 06-01, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    6. Laeven, Luc & Levine, Ross, 2007. "Is there a diversification discount in financial conglomerates?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 331-367, August.
    7. Morck, Randall & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1990. "Do Managerial Objectives Drive Bad Acquisitions?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(1), pages 31-48, March.
    8. Mariateresa Torchia & Andrea Calabrò & Morten Huse, 2011. "Women Directors on Corporate Boards: From Tokenism to Critical Mass," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(2), pages 299-317, August.
    9. Fama, Eugene F & Jensen, Michael C, 1983. "Separation of Ownership and Control," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 301-325, June.
    10. Malmendier, Ulrike & Tate, Geoffrey, 2008. "Who makes acquisitions? CEO overconfidence and the market's reaction," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 20-43, July.
    11. Sah, Nilesh B., 2021. "Cash is Queen: Female CEOs’ propensity to hoard cash," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C).
    12. Kleibergen, Frank & Paap, Richard, 2006. "Generalized reduced rank tests using the singular value decomposition," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 133(1), pages 97-126, July.
    13. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W., 1989. "Management entrenchment : The case of manager-specific investments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 123-139, November.
    14. Schwert, G. William, 1996. "Markup pricing in mergers and acquisitions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 153-192, June.
    15. Guoli Chen & Craig Crossland & Sterling Huang, 2016. "Female board representation and corporate acquisition intensity," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 303-313, February.
    16. Arturo Bris, 2000. "Do Insider Trading Laws Work?," Yale School of Management Working Papers ysm162, Yale School of Management, revised 01 Jun 2005.
    17. Mueller, Dennis C, 1972. "A Life Cycle Theory of the Firm," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 199-219, July.
    18. Denis, David J. & Denis, Diane K. & Sarin, Atulya, 1997. "Ownership structure and top executive turnover," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 193-221, August.
    19. Panayiotis C. Andreou & Christodoulos Louca & Andreas P. Petrou, 2017. "CEO Age and Stock Price Crash Risk," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 21(3), pages 1287-1325.
    20. Lang, Larry H. P. & Stulz, ReneM. & Walkling, Ralph A., 1991. "A test of the free cash flow hypothesis*1: The case of bidder returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 315-335, October.
    21. Kaplan, Steven N & Weisbach, Michael S, 1992. "The Success of Acquisitions: Evidence from Divestitures," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(1), pages 107-138, March.
    22. Lucian Bebchuk & Alma Cohen & Allen Ferrell, 2009. "What Matters in Corporate Governance?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(2), pages 783-827, February.
    23. Levi, Maurice & Li, Kai & Zhang, Feng, 2014. "Director gender and mergers and acquisitions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 185-200.
    24. Shivdasani, Anil, 1993. "Board composition, ownership structure, and hostile takeovers," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1-3), pages 167-198, April.
    25. Larcker, David F. & Rusticus, Tjomme O., 2010. "On the use of instrumental variables in accounting research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 186-205, April.
    26. Karampatsas, Nikolaos & Petmezas, Dimitris & Travlos, Nickolaos G., 2014. "Credit ratings and the choice of payment method in mergers and acquisitions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 474-493.
    27. repec:bla:jfinan:v:53:y:1998:i:2:p:773-784 is not listed on IDEAS
    28. Harford, Jarrad & Klasa, Sandy & Walcott, Nathan, 2009. "Do firms have leverage targets? Evidence from acquisitions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 1-14, July.
    29. Jung, Kooyul & Yong-Cheol, Kim & Stulz, Rene M., 1996. "Timing, investment opportunities, managerial discretion, and the security issue decision," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 159-185, October.
    30. Sara B. Moeller & Frederik P. Schlingemann & René M. Stulz, 2005. "Wealth Destruction on a Massive Scale? A Study of Acquiring‐Firm Returns in the Recent Merger Wave," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(2), pages 757-782, April.
    31. Tod Perry & Anil Shivdasani, 2005. "Do Boards Affect Performance? Evidence from Corporate Restructuring," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(4), pages 1403-1432, July.
    32. Officer, Micah S., 2007. "The price of corporate liquidity: Acquisition discounts for unlisted targets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(3), pages 571-598, March.
    33. Galbreath, Jeremy, 2011. "Are there gender-related influences on corporate sustainability? A study of women on boards of directors," Journal of Management & Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(1), pages 17-38, January.
    34. repec:bla:jfinan:v:44:y:1989:i:1:p:41-57 is not listed on IDEAS
    35. Binay K. Adhikari, 2018. "Female executives and corporate cash holdings," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(13), pages 958-963, July.
    36. Offenberg, David & Pirinsky, Christo, 2015. "How do acquirers choose between mergers and tender offers?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(2), pages 331-348.
    37. Uri Gneezy & Aldo Rustichini, 2004. "Gender and Competition at a Young Age," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(2), pages 377-381, May.
    38. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1997. "Industry costs of equity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 153-193, February.
    39. Stulz, ReneM., 1990. "Managerial discretion and optimal financing policies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 3-27, July.
    40. Renée B. Adams & Patricia Funk, 2012. "Beyond the Glass Ceiling: Does Gender Matter?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(2), pages 219-235, February.
    41. Ken S. Cavalluzzo, 2002. "Competition, Small Business Financing, and Discrimination: Evidence from a New Survey," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75(4), pages 641-680, October.
    42. Berger, Allen N. & Kick, Thomas & Schaeck, Klaus, 2014. "Executive board composition and bank risk taking," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 48-65.
    43. Higgins, Robert C & Schall, Lawrence D, 1975. "Corporate Bankruptcy and Conglomerate Merger," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 30(1), pages 93-113, March.
    44. Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Puri, Manju, 2013. "Managerial attitudes and corporate actions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(1), pages 103-121.
    45. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    46. Ioanna Boulouta, 2013. "Hidden Connections: The Link Between Board Gender Diversity and Corporate Social Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 113(2), pages 185-197, March.
    47. Khan, Walayet A. & Vieito, João Paulo, 2013. "Ceo gender and firm performance," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 55-66.
    48. Chemmanur, Thomas J. & Paeglis, Imants & Simonyan, Karen, 2009. "The medium of exchange in acquisitions: Does the private information of both acquirer and target matter?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 523-542, December.
    49. Arturo Bris, 2005. "Do Insider Trading Laws Work?," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 11(3), pages 267-312, June.
    50. Rui Shen & Yi Tang & Guoli Chen, 2014. "When the role fits: How firm status differentials affect corporate takeovers," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(13), pages 2012-2030, December.
    51. Maurice Levi & Kai Li & Feng Zhang, 2010. "Deal or No Deal: Hormones and the Mergers and Acquisitions Game," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(9), pages 1462-1483, September.
    52. Asli M. Arikan & René M. Stulz, 2016. "Corporate Acquisitions, Diversification, and the Firm's Life Cycle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(1), pages 139-194, February.
    53. Fama, Eugene F, 1980. "Agency Problems and the Theory of the Firm," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 88(2), pages 288-307, April.
    54. Chatterjee, Sris & Hasan, Iftekhar & John, Kose & Yan, An, 2021. "Stock liquidity, empire building, and valuation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    55. Sicherman, Neil W & Pettway, Richard H, 1987. "Acquisition of Divested Assets and Shareholders' Wealth," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 42(5), pages 1261-1273, December.
    56. Huang, Peng & Officer, Micah S. & Powell, Ronan, 2016. "Method of payment and risk mitigation in cross-border mergers and acquisitions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 216-234.
    57. Denis, Diane K. & McConnell, John J., 2003. "International Corporate Governance," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(1), pages 1-36, March.
    58. Hansen, Robert G, 1987. "A Theory for the Choice of Exchange Medium in Mergers and Acquisitions," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 60(1), pages 75-95, January.
    59. Gao, Ning, 2011. "The adverse selection effect of corporate cash reserve: Evidence from acquisitions solely financed by stock," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 789-808, September.
    60. Uysal, Vahap B., 2011. "Deviation from the target capital structure and acquisition choices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(3), pages 602-620.
    61. Martynova, Marina & Renneboog, Luc, 2008. "A century of corporate takeovers: What have we learned and where do we stand?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(10), pages 2148-2177, October.
    62. Dowling, Michael & Aribi, Zakaria Ali, 2013. "Female directors and UK company acquisitiveness," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 79-86.
    63. Kathleen Fuller & Jeffry Netter & Mike Stegemoller, 2002. "What Do Returns to Acquiring Firms Tell Us? Evidence from Firms That Make Many Acquisitions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(4), pages 1763-1793, August.
    64. Caspar Rose, 2007. "Does female board representation influence firm performance? The Danish evidence," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(2), pages 404-413, March.
    65. Constatinos C Markides & Christopher D Ittner, 1994. "Shareholder Benefits from Corporate International Diversification: Evidence from U.S. International Acquisitions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 25(2), pages 343-366, June.
    66. Faleye, Olubunmi & Hoitash, Rani & Hoitash, Udi, 2011. "The costs of intense board monitoring," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(1), pages 160-181, July.
    67. Brad M. Barber & Terrance Odean, 2001. "Boys will be Boys: Gender, Overconfidence, and Common Stock Investment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(1), pages 261-292.
    68. Moeller, Sara B. & Schlingemann, Frederik P. & Stulz, Rene M., 2004. "Firm size and the gains from acquisitions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 201-228, August.
    69. Paul Draper & Krishna Paudyal, 2006. "Acquisitions: Private versus Public," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 12(1), pages 57-80, January.
    70. Rachel Croson & Uri Gneezy, 2009. "Gender Differences in Preferences," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(2), pages 448-474, June.
    71. Ronald W. Masulis & Cong Wang & Fei Xie, 2007. "Corporate Governance and Acquirer Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(4), pages 1851-1889, August.
    72. John, Kose & Ofek, Eli, 1995. "Asset sales and increase in focus," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 105-126, January.
    73. Gul, Ferdinand A. & Srinidhi, Bin & Ng, Anthony C., 2011. "Does board gender diversity improve the informativeness of stock prices?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 314-338, April.
    74. Huang, Jiekun & Kisgen, Darren J., 2013. "Gender and corporate finance: Are male executives overconfident relative to female executives?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(3), pages 822-839.
    75. Arturo Bris, 2000. "Do Insider Trading Laws Work?," Yale School of Management Working Papers ysm162, Yale School of Management, revised 01 Jun 2005.
    76. Jasmin Joecks & Kerstin Pull & Karin Vetter, 2013. "Gender Diversity in the Boardroom and Firm Performance: What Exactly Constitutes a “Critical Mass?”," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(1), pages 61-72, November.
    77. Charness, Gary & Gneezy, Uri, 2012. "Strong Evidence for Gender Differences in Risk Taking," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 50-58.
    78. David A. Carter & Betty J. Simkins & W. Gary Simpson, 2003. "Corporate Governance, Board Diversity, and Firm Value," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 38(1), pages 33-53, February.
    79. Ang, James & Kohers, Ninon, 2001. "The Take-Over Market for Privately Held Companies: The US Experience," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 25(6), pages 723-748, November.
    80. Hassan Tehranian & Mengxing Zhao & Julie L. Zhu, 2014. "Can Analysts Analyze Mergers?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(4), pages 959-979, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Syed Shams & Kristina Minnick & Mehdi Khedmati & Abeyratna Gunasekarage, 2024. "Gender diversity and acquisitions: How female directors add value in acquisition decisions," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1-2), pages 113-147, January.
    2. Renneboog, Luc & Vansteenkiste, Cara, 2019. "Failure and success in mergers and acquisitions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 650-699.
    3. Lucas, Ryley & Gunasekarage, Abeyratna & Shams, Syed & Edirisuriya, Piyadasa, 2021. "Female directors and acquisitions: Australian evidence," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    4. Martynova, M., 2006. "The market for corporate control and corporate governance regulation in Europe," Other publications TiSEM 8651e281-4914-41f2-ac14-1, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    5. Gokkaya, Sinan & Liu, Xi & Stulz, René M., 2023. "Do firms with specialized M&A staff make better acquisitions?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(1), pages 75-105.
    6. Gul, Ferdinand A. & Khedmati, Mehdi & Shams, Syed M.M., 2020. "Managerial acquisitiveness and corporate tax avoidance," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    7. Robert W. Faff & Abeyratna Gunasekarage & Syed M. M. Shams, 2020. "Does takeover competition affect acquisition choices and bidding firm performance? Australian evidence," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(4), pages 3581-3619, December.
    8. Andrey Golubov & Dimitris Petmezas & Nickolaos G. Travlos, 2013. "Empirical mergers and acquisitions research: a review of methods, evidence and managerial implications," Chapters, in: Adrian R. Bell & Chris Brooks & Marcel Prokopczuk (ed.), Handbook of Research Methods and Applications in Empirical Finance, chapter 12, pages 287-313, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Croci, Ettore & Petmezas, Dimitris, 2015. "Do risk-taking incentives induce CEOs to invest? Evidence from acquisitions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 1-23.
    10. An, Suwei, 2023. "Essays on incentive contracts, M&As, and firm risk," Other publications TiSEM dd97d2f5-1c9d-47c5-ba62-f, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    11. El-Khatib, Rwan & Fogel, Kathy & Jandik, Tomas, 2015. "CEO network centrality and merger performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(2), pages 349-382.
    12. Levi, Maurice & Li, Kai & Zhang, Feng, 2014. "Director gender and mergers and acquisitions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 185-200.
    13. Martynova, M. & Renneboog, L.D.R., 2005. "Takeover Waves : Triggers, Performance and Motives," Discussion Paper 2005-029, Tilburg University, Tilburg Law and Economic Center.
    14. Kara, Alper & Nanteza, Aziidah & Ozkan, Aydin & Yildiz, Yilmaz, 2022. "Board gender diversity and responsible banking during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    15. Yang Zhang, 2018. "Corporate Governance Effects on Risk Management and Shareholder Wealth: The Case of Mergers and Acquisitions," PhD Thesis, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, number 4-2018, January-A.
    16. Ioannis Tampakoudis & Andreas Andrikopoulos & Michail Nerantzidis & Nikolaos Kiosses, 2022. "Does boardroom gender diversity affect shareholder wealth? Evidence from bank mergers and acquisitions," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(3), pages 3315-3344, July.
    17. Alexandridis, G. & Antypas, N. & Travlos, N., 2017. "Value creation from M&As: New evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 632-650.
    18. Hoa Luong & Abeyratna Gunasekarage & Syed Shams, 2021. "CEO pay slice and acquisitions in Australia: the role of tournament incentives," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 18(5), pages 833-868, September.
    19. Tampakoudis, Ioannis & Nerantzidis, Michail & Eweje, Gabriel & Leventis, Stergios, 2022. "The impact of gender diversity on shareholder wealth: Evidence from European bank M&A," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    20. Sanjukta Brahma & Agyenim Boateng & Sardar Ahmad, 2023. "Board overconfidence and M&A performance: evidence from the UK," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 60(4), pages 1363-1391, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jfnres:v:46:y:2023:i:4:p:949-991. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sfaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.