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Few Women on Boards: What’s Identity Got to Do With It?

Author

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  • Lívia Markoczy

    (University of Texas at Dallas)

  • Sunny Li Sun

    (University of Massachusetts Lowell)

  • Jigao Zhu

    (University of International Business and Economics)

Abstract

Drawing on the similarity-attraction perspective and social identity theory, we argue that male versus female interlocking directors are likely to have different experiences when they work alongside female board directors of other firms. The theorized source of such experiences for male interlocking directors is in-group favoritism and/or a social identity threat-related discomfort. Interlocking female directors are theorized to be ambivalent between desiring social support versus experiencing identity threat-based career concerns. These experiences are predicted to motivate male versus female interlocking directors in different ways to reduce or, conversely, to potentially facilitate female representation on focal boards. We additionally predict that economic crisis reduces the biases of male directors against appointing female directors to boards. We test our hypotheses based on a novel data set that includes 25,460 directors in Chinese A-share public companies with a sample of 27,058 firm-quarter observations for 1635 firms between 2006 and 2010 and find most of our hypotheses supported.

Suggested Citation

  • Lívia Markoczy & Sunny Li Sun & Jigao Zhu, 2020. "Few Women on Boards: What’s Identity Got to Do With It?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 165(2), pages 311-327, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:165:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-019-04104-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-019-04104-z
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Schoonjans, Eline & Hottenrott, Hanna & Buchwald, Achim, 2023. "Welcome on board? Appointment dynamics of women as directors," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-005, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
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    4. Pablo Andres & Inigo Garcia-Rodriguez & M. Elena Romero-Merino & Marcos Santamaria-Mariscal, 2023. "Political directors and corporate social responsibility: Are political ideology and regional identity relevant?," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 339-373, January.
    5. Chen Chen & David K. Ding & William R. Wilson, 2021. "The Old Boys Club in New Zealand Listed Companies," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-21, July.

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