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Women in the boardroom and fraud: Evidence from Australia

Author

Listed:
  • Alessandra Capezio

    (Research School of Management, ANU College of Business and Economics, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia)

  • Astghik Mavisakalyan

    (Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, Curtin Business School, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia)

Abstract

We examine the relationship between women’s representation on corporate boards and fraud. Drawing on a discussion of existing studies, we hypothesise that increasing women’s representation on boards can help mitigate fraud. We provide validation to our conjecture through an empirical analysis of 128 publicly listed companies in Australia. We show that the increase in women’s representation on company boards is associated with a decreased probability of fraud. We demonstrate the consistency of this result across different robustness checks. We believe that our findings could be of interest to policy makers interested in enhancing board governance and monitoring.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessandra Capezio & Astghik Mavisakalyan, 2016. "Women in the boardroom and fraud: Evidence from Australia," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 41(4), pages 719-734, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ausman:v:41:y:2016:i:4:p:719-734
    DOI: 10.1177/0312896215579463
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Australia; fraud; governance; women on boards;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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