IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/ijppmp/17410400610702160.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do women in top management affect firm performance?A panel study of 2,500 Danish firms

Author

Listed:
  • Nina Smith
  • Valdemar Smith
  • Mette Verner

Abstract

Purpose - This paper aims to examine the relationship between management diversity and firm performance in the case of women in top executive jobs and on boards of directors. Corporate governance literature argues that board diversity is potentially positively related to firm performance. This hypothesis is tested in the paper. Design/methodology/approach - In this paper with the use of data for the 2,500 largest Danish firms observed during the period 1993‐2001 various statistical models for firm performance are specified and estimated. The main focus in the models is the estimated relationship between the proportion of women in top management (CEOs and on boards of directors) and firm performance. Findings - The results in this paper show that the proportion of women in top management jobs tends to have positive effects on firm performance, even after controlling for numerous characteristics of the firm and direction of causality. The results show that the positive effects of women in top management strongly depend on the qualifications of female top managers. Originality/value - This paper provides solid statistical evidence of the effects of women in top management on firm performance. The use of a large sample and the panel nature of the data set make it possible to properly control for direction of causality and, furthermore, much firm and individual information is included to estimate genuine effects of women in top management.

Suggested Citation

  • Nina Smith & Valdemar Smith & Mette Verner, 2006. "Do women in top management affect firm performance?A panel study of 2,500 Danish firms," International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 55(7), pages 569-593, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:ijppmp:17410400610702160
    DOI: 10.1108/17410400610702160
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/17410400610702160/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/17410400610702160/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/17410400610702160?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 look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Du Rietz, Anita & Henrekson, Magnus, 2000. "Testing the Female Underperformance Hypothesis," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, February.
    2. Karen A. Bantel & Susan E. Jackson, 1989. "Top management and innovations in banking: Does the composition of the top team make a difference?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(S1), pages 107-124, June.
    3. Joe S. Bain, 1951. "Relation of Profit Rate to Industry Concentration: American Manufacturing, 1936–1940," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 65(3), pages 293-324.
    4. Bennedsen, Morten & Nielsen, Kasper & Pérez-González, Francisco & Wolfenzon, Daniel, 2005. "Inside the Family Firm," Working Papers 21-2005, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Economics.
    5. Bell, Linda A., 2005. "Women-Led Firms and the Gender Gap in Top Executive Jobs," IZA Discussion Papers 1689, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. 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.
    7. Morten Bennedsen & Kasper Nielsen & Francisco Pérez-González & Daniel Wolfenzon, 2005. "Inside the Family Firm: The Role of Families in Succession Decisions and Performance," CIE Discussion Papers 2005-13, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. Centre for Industrial Economics, revised Sep 2005.
    8. Val Singh & Susan Vinnicombe, 2004. "Why So Few Women Directors in Top UK Boardrooms? Evidence and Theoretical Explanations," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(4), pages 479-488, October.
    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. Daunfeldt, Sven-Olov & Rudholm, Niklas, 2012. "Does Gender Diversity in the Boardroom Improve Firm Performance?," HUI Working Papers 60, HUI Research.
    2. Regina M. Reinert & Florian Weigert & Christoph H. Winnefeld, 2016. "Does female management influence firm performance? Evidence from Luxembourg banks," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 30(2), pages 113-136, May.
    3. Reinert, Regina M. & Weigert, Florian & Winnefeld, Christoph H., 2015. "Does Female Management Influence Firm Performance? Evidence from Luxembourg Banks," Working Papers on Finance 1501, University of St. Gallen, School of Finance.
    4. Nicholas Bloom & Raffaella Sadun & John Van Reenen, 2015. "Do Private Equity Owned Firms Have Better Management Practices?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 442-446, May.
    5. Tleubayev, Alisher & Bobojonov, Ihtiyor & Gagalyuk, Taras & Glauben, Thomas, 2020. "Board gender diversity and firm performance: Evidence from the Russian agri-food industry," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 23(1), pages 35-53.
    6. Zhou, Yifan & Kara, Alper & Molyneux, Philip, 2019. "Chair-CEO generation gap and bank risk-taking," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 352-372.
    7. Nadia Loukil & Ouidad Yousfi, 2022. "Do CEO’s traits matter in innovation outcomes?," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 375-403, September.
    8. Wang, Tawei & Hsu, Carol, 2013. "Board composition and operational risk events of financial institutions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 2042-2051.
    9. repec:eme:majpps:maj-03-2019-2224 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Chang Seop Rhee & Sohee Woo & Hyunjung Rhee, 2023. "Effect of gender diversity on corporate soundness and social contribution," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(1), pages 419-430, January.
    11. Angelo A. Unite & Michael J. Sullivan & Ailyn A. Shi, 2019. "Board Diversity and Performance of Philippine Firms: Do Women Matter?," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 25(1), pages 65-78, February.
    12. Nicholas Bloom & John Van Reenen, 2007. "Measuring and Explaining Management Practices Across Firms and Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(4), pages 1351-1408.
    13. Nguyen, Tuan & Nguyen, An & Nguyen, Mau & Truong, Thuyen, 2021. "Is national governance quality a key moderator of the boardroom gender diversity–firm performance relationship? International evidence from a multi-hierarchical analysis," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 370-390.
    14. Yan‐xi Li & Chao He, 2023. "Board diversity and corporate innovation: Evidence from Chinese listed firms," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(1), pages 1092-1115, January.
    15. Simon Rafaqat & Sahil Rafaqat & Saoul Rafaqat & Dawood Rafaqat, 2022. "The Impact of Workforce Diversity on Organizational Performance: A Review," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 14(2), pages 39-50.
    16. Rey Dang & Anne Françoise Bender & Marie José Scotto, 2014. "Women on French Corporate Board of Directors: How Do They Differ from their Male Counterparts?," Working Papers 2014-54, Department of Research, Ipag Business School.
    17. David A. Matsa & Amalia R. Miller, 2014. "Workforce Reductions at Women-Owned Businesses in the United States," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 67(2), pages 422-452, April.
    18. Job Borrenbergs & Rui Vieira & Georgios Georgakopoulos, 2017. "Remuneration Committees’ Gender Composition as a Determinant of Executive Board Compensation Structure," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(2), pages 135-146, February.
    19. Thi-Thanh Phan & Hai-Chin Yu, 2022. "Innovation, institutional ownerships and board diversity," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 1647-1693, November.
    20. Aitzaz Ahsan Alias Sarang & Nicolas Aubert & Xavier Hollandts, 2024. "Board gender diversity and the cost of equity: What difference does gender quota legislation make?," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 2193-2213, April.
    21. Hahn, Peter D. & Lasfer, Meziane, 2016. "Impact of foreign directors on board meeting frequency," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 295-308.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Denmark; Managers; Corporate governance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility

    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:eme:ijppmp:17410400610702160. 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: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.