IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finsta/v69y2023ics1572308923000852.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gender diversity in leadership: Empirical evidence on firm credit risk

Author

Listed:
  • Aguir, Iness
  • Boubakri, Narjess
  • Marra, Miriam
  • Zhu, Lu

Abstract

We study the relation between firm financial stability and gender diversity in leadership and highlight its dependence on the initial financial conditions of the firm and the role played by the women leaders. Consistent with the glass cliff and the upper echelon theories, we find that close-to-default firms are more likely to appoint women top executives and that under their leadership, subsequent firms’ risk of default decreases in the short to medium term. In parallel, independent women directors are not associated with firms’ past credit risk, and their presence is more likely to increase the firm’s subsequent default risk, as established by the tokenism and signaling theory. Our results are robust to alternative specifications and endogeneity corrections.

Suggested Citation

  • Aguir, Iness & Boubakri, Narjess & Marra, Miriam & Zhu, Lu, 2023. "Gender diversity in leadership: Empirical evidence on firm credit risk," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finsta:v:69:y:2023:i:c:s1572308923000852
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfs.2023.101185
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1572308923000852
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jfs.2023.101185?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bin Srinidhi & Ferdinand A. Gul & Judy Tsui, 2011. "Female Directors and Earnings Quality," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(5), pages 1610-1644, December.
    2. Michelle M. Duguid & Denise Lewin Loyd & Pamela S. Tolbert, 2012. "The Impact of Categorical Status, Numeric Representation, and Work Group Prestige on Preference for Demographically Similar Others: A Value Threat Approach," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(2), pages 386-401, April.
    3. Jan Luca Pletzer & Romina Nikolova & Karina Karolina Kedzior & Sven Constantin Voelpel, 2015. "Does Gender Matter? Female Representation on Corporate Boards and Firm Financial Performance - A Meta-Analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(6), pages 1-20, June.
    4. Bill Francis & Iftekhar Hasan & Jong Chool Park & Qiang Wu, 2015. "Gender Differences in Financial Reporting Decision Making: Evidence from Accounting Conservatism," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(3), pages 1285-1318, September.
    5. Cesare Fracassi & Geoffrey Tate, 2012. "External Networking and Internal Firm Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(1), pages 153-194, February.
    6. Thomas W. Bates & Kathleen M. Kahle & René M. Stulz, 2009. "Why Do U.S. Firms Hold So Much More Cash than They Used To?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(5), pages 1985-2021, October.
    7. Marianne Bertrand & Sandra E Black & Sissel Jensen & Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2019. "Breaking the Glass Ceiling? The Effect of Board Quotas on Female Labour Market Outcomes in Norway," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 86(1), pages 191-239.
    8. Levi, Maurice & Li, Kai & Zhang, Feng, 2014. "Director gender and mergers and acquisitions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 185-200.
    9. Goergen, Marc & Renneboog, Luc, 2014. "Inside the board room," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 1-5.
    10. David A. Matsa & Amalia R. Miller, 2013. "A Female Style in Corporate Leadership? Evidence from Quotas," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(3), pages 136-169, July.
    11. Simon Ho & Annie Li & Kinsun Tam & Feida Zhang, 2015. "CEO Gender, Ethical Leadership, and Accounting Conservatism," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 351-370, March.
    12. Daehyun Kim & Laura T. Starks, 2016. "Gender Diversity on Corporate Boards: Do Women Contribute Unique Skills?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(5), pages 267-271, May.
    13. Pathan, Shams, 2009. "Strong boards, CEO power and bank risk-taking," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 1340-1350, July.
    14. Renée B. Adams & Daniel Ferreira, 2007. "A Theory of Friendly Boards," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(1), pages 217-250, February.
    15. Renneboog, Luc & Zhao, Yang, 2014. "Director networks and takeovers," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 218-234.
    16. Kinateder, Harald & Choudhury, Tonmoy & Zaman, Rashid & Scagnelli, Simone D. & Sohel, Nurul, 2021. "Does boardroom gender diversity decrease credit risk in the financial sector? Worldwide evidence," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    17. Datta, Sudip & Doan, Trang & Toscano, Francesca, 2021. "Top executive gender, board gender diversity, and financing decisions: Evidence from debt structure choice," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    18. 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.
    19. García Lara, Juan Manuel & García Osma, Beatriz & Mora, Araceli & Scapin, Mariano, 2017. "The monitoring role of female directors over accounting quality," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 651-668.
    20. Viral Acharya & Sergei A. Davydenko & Ilya A. Strebulaev, 2012. "Cash Holdings and Credit Risk," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(12), pages 3572-3609.
    21. Li, Yiwei & Zeng, Yeqin, 2019. "The impact of top executive gender on asset prices: Evidence from stock price crash risk," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 528-550.
    22. Chen, Jie & Leung, Woon Sau & Goergen, Marc, 2017. "The impact of board gender composition on dividend payouts," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 86-105.
    23. Abdelbadie, Roba Ashraf & Salama, Aly, 2019. "Corporate governance and financial stability in US banks: Do indirect interlocks matter?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 85-105.
    24. Richard J. Gentry & Joseph S. Harrison & Timothy J. Quigley & Steven Boivie, 2021. "A database of CEO turnover and dismissal in S&P 1500 firms, 2000–2018," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(5), pages 968-991, May.
    25. Francis, Bill B. & Hasan, Iftekhar & Shen, Yinjie (Victor) & Wu, Qiang, 2021. "Do activist hedge funds target female CEOs? The role of CEO gender in hedge fund activism," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(1), pages 372-393.
    26. María del Carmen Triana & Toyah L. Miller & Tiffany M. Trzebiatowski, 2014. "The Double-Edged Nature of Board Gender Diversity: Diversity, Firm Performance, and the Power of Women Directors as Predictors of Strategic Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(2), pages 609-632, April.
    27. Scott D. Graffin & James B. Wade & Joseph F. Porac & Robert C. McNamee, 2008. "The Impact of CEO Status Diffusion on the Economic Outcomes of Other Senior Managers," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(3), pages 457-474, June.
    28. Jia Lu & Agyenim Boateng, 2018. "Board composition, monitoring and credit risk: evidence from the UK banking industry," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 1107-1128, November.
    29. Liu, Yu & Wei, Zuobao & Xie, Feixue, 2014. "Do women directors improve firm performance in China?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 169-184.
    30. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    31. Sudipta Bose & Sarowar Hossain & Abdus Sobhan & Karen Handley, 2022. "Does female participation in strategic decision‐making roles matter for corporate social responsibility performance?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(3), pages 4109-4156, September.
    32. Yael V. Hochberg & Alexander Ljungqvist & Yang Lu, 2007. "Whom You Know Matters: Venture Capital Networks and Investment Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(1), pages 251-301, February.
    33. Adams, Renée B. & Ferreira, Daniel, 2009. "Women in the boardroom and their impact on governance and performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 291-309, November.
    34. Kenneth R. Ahern & Amy K. Dittmar, 2012. "The Changing of the Boards: The Impact on Firm Valuation of Mandated Female Board Representation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(1), pages 137-197.
    35. Yiwei Li & Xiu‐Ye Zhang, 2019. "Impact of board gender composition on corporate debt maturity structures," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 25(5), pages 1286-1320, November.
    36. Ingersoll, Alicia R. & Cook, Alison & Glass, Christy, 2023. "A free solo in heels: Corporate risk taking among women executives and directors," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    37. Helena Isidro & Márcia Sobral, 2015. "The Effects of Women on Corporate Boards on Firm Value, Financial Performance, and Ethical and Social Compliance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(1), pages 1-19, November.
    38. Chen, Jie & Leung, Woon Sau & Song, Wei & Goergen, Marc, 2019. "Why female board representation matters: The role of female directors in reducing male CEO overconfidence," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 70-90.
    39. McGuinness, Paul B. & Vieito, João Paulo & Wang, Mingzhu, 2017. "The role of board gender and foreign ownership in the CSR performance of Chinese listed firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 75-99.
    40. Schopohl, Lisa & Urquhart, Andrew & Zhang, Hanxiong, 2021. "Female CFOs, leverage and the moderating role of board diversity and CEO power," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    41. Gilani, Usman & Keasey, Kevin & Vallascas, Francesco, 2021. "Board financial expertise and the capital decisions of US banks," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    42. Farrell, Kathleen A. & Hersch, Philip L., 2005. "Additions to corporate boards: the effect of gender," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 11(1-2), pages 85-106, March.
    43. Terjesen, Siri & Sealy, Ruth, 2016. "Board Gender Quotas: Exploring Ethical Tensions From A Multi-Theoretical Perspective," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 26(1), pages 23-65, January.
    44. Arnaboldi, F. & Casu, B. & Gallo, A. & Kalotychou, E. & Sarkisyan, A., 2021. "Gender diversity and bank misconduct," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    45. Shimin Chen & Xu Ni & Jamie Y. Tong, 2016. "Gender Diversity in the Boardroom and Risk Management: A Case of R&D Investment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(3), pages 599-621, July.
    46. Cornett, Marcia Millon & Erhemjamts, Otgontsetseg & Tehranian, Hassan, 2016. "Greed or good deeds: An examination of the relation between corporate social responsibility and the financial performance of U.S. commercial banks around the financial crisis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 137-159.
    47. Muhammad Atif & Benjamin Liu & Allen Huang, 2019. "Does board gender diversity affect corporate cash holdings?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(7-8), pages 1003-1029, July.
    48. Sreedhar T. Bharath & Tyler Shumway, 2008. "Forecasting Default with the Merton Distance to Default Model," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(3), pages 1339-1369, May.
    49. 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.
    50. Faccio, Mara & Marchica, Maria-Teresa & Mura, Roberto, 2016. "CEO gender, corporate risk-taking, and the efficiency of capital allocation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 193-209.
    51. Margarethe F. Wiersema & Yoichiro Nishimura & Katsushi Suzuki, 2018. "Executive succession: The importance of social capital in CEO appointments," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 1473-1495, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Margareta Ilie & Constantin Ilie, 2024. "Reasons Why Female Students Do Not Start a Business? A Brief Analysis," Economics and Applied Informatics, "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, issue 2, pages 26-32.

    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. Paul B. McGuinness & João Paulo Vieito & Mingzhu Wang, 2020. "Proactive government intervention, board gender balance, and stakeholder engagement in China and Europe," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 719-762, September.
    2. Atif, Muhammad & Hossain, Mohammed & Alam, Md Samsul & Goergen, Marc, 2021. "Does board gender diversity affect renewable energy consumption?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    3. 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).
    4. Huang, Yichu & Fang, Feifei & Fan, Yaoyao & Ly, Kim Cuong, 2024. "Do ‘Lehman Sisters’ work in China? Women on boards and bank risk," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    5. Nguyen, Thi Hong Hanh & Ntim, Collins G. & Malagila, John K., 2020. "Women on corporate boards and corporate financial and non-financial performance: A systematic literature review and future research agenda," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    6. Jagadison K. Aier & Eun Hye Jo & Jung Wha (Jenny) Lee, 2024. "Female directors and cash holdings adjustment: Evidence from South Korea," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 64(4), pages 4217-4249, December.
    7. Jasmine Yur‐Austin & Ran Zhao & Lu Zhu, 2024. "Unraveling the impact of female CEOs on corporate bond markets," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 53(2), pages 391-423, June.
    8. Gambacorta, Leonardo & Pancotto, Livia & Reghezza, Alessio & Spaggiari, Martina, 2022. "Gender diversity in bank boardrooms and green lending: Evidence from euro area credit register data," CEPR Discussion Papers 17650, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Elnahass, Marwa & Alharbi, Rana & Mohamed, Toka S. & McLaren, Josie, 2024. "Women directors’ attributes and demographics: New insights into bank risk," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    10. Belaounia, Samia & Tao, Ran & Zhao, Hong, 2020. "Gender equality's impact on female directors’ efficacy: A multi-country study," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(5).
    11. Fan, Yaoyao & Jiang, Yuxiang & Zhang, Xuezhi & Zhou, Yue, 2019. "Women on boards and bank earnings management: From zero to hero," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 1-1.
    12. Xing, Lu & Gonzalez, Angelica & Sila, Vathunyoo, 2021. "Does cooperation among women enhance or impede firm performance?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(4).
    13. Tosun, Onur Kemel & El Kalak, Izidin & Hudson, Robert, 2022. "How female directors help firms to attain optimal cash holdings," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    14. Alkhawaja, Abdallah & Hu, Fang & Johl, Shireenjit & Nadarajah, Sivathaasan, 2023. "Board gender diversity, quotas, and ESG disclosure: Global evidence," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    15. Schopohl, Lisa & Urquhart, Andrew & Zhang, Hanxiong, 2021. "Female CFOs, leverage and the moderating role of board diversity and CEO power," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    16. Liu, Chelsea, 2021. "CEO gender and employee relations: Evidence from labor lawsuits," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    17. Gao, Kaijuan & Wang, Manya & Liu, Jin, 2024. "Board chair gender, glass ceiling, and IPO underpricing: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 1152-1171.
    18. 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.
    19. García Lara, Juan Manuel & García Osma, Beatriz & Mora, Araceli & Scapin, Mariano, 2017. "The monitoring role of female directors over accounting quality," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 651-668.
    20. Vu Quang Trinh & Ngan Duong Cao & Linh Hai Dinh & Hong Ngoc Nguyen, 2021. "Boardroom gender diversity and dividend payout strategies: Effects of mergers deals," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 6014-6035, October.

    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:eee:finsta:v:69:y:2023:i:c:s1572308923000852. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jfstabil .

    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.