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Women in the Boardroom: Symbols or Substance?

Author

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  • O'Reilly, Charles A., III

    (Stanford University)

  • Main, Brian G. M.

    (University Edinburgh)

Abstract

The central argument for increasing the number of women on corporate boards of directors has been the so-called "business case for diversity" which proposes that women and minorities add valuable new perspectives that result in enhanced corporate performance. Unfortunately, the empirical evidence for this claim is mixed, leading some researchers to suggest that women outsiders are appointed for symbolic rather than substantive reasons. Using a sample of more than 2,000 firms over the period 2001-2005, we examine the effects of women outside directors on firm performance and CEO compensation. We find no evidence that adding women outsiders to the board enhances corporate performance. We do find some evidence that male CEOs with higher levels of compensation are more likely to appoint women outsiders and that boards with more women outside members are more generous in paying the CEO. We interpret these results as consistent with the appointment of women outsiders for normative rather than profit-enhancing reasons.

Suggested Citation

  • O'Reilly, Charles A., III & Main, Brian G. M., 2012. "Women in the Boardroom: Symbols or Substance?," Research Papers 2098, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecl:stabus:2098
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    File URL: http://gsbapps.stanford.edu/researchpapers/library/RP2098.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Marcus Noland & Tyler Moran & Barbara Kotschwar, 2016. "Is Gender Diversity Profitable? Evidence from a Global Survey," Working Paper Series WP16-3, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    2. Breda, Thomas & Manning, Alan, 2016. "Diversity and social capital within the workplace:evidence from Britain," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 69042, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    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. Sabrina Wieland & Benjamin Scott Flavel, 2015. "The relationship between employee orientation, financial performance and leverage," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 11(4), pages 716-733, October.
    5. Breda, Thomas & Manning, Alan, 2016. "Diversity and social capital within the workplace:evidence from Britain," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 69042, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Colin Green & Swarnodeep Homroy, 2015. "Female directors, key committees, and firm performance," Working Papers 95922258, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.

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