Search results

This study examines the impact of female directors on cash holdings in Egyptian listed firms, particularly in light of Decree 123/2019, which mandates female board representation. This study aims to determine if female directors mitigate agency conflicts related to cash holdings and how these dynamics shift post-quota implementation.

Using a panel fixed-effects model, the research analyzes 1,563 firm-year observations from 223 non-financial Egyptian firms listed on the EGX between 2014 and 2022. The robustness of the findings is tested through additional analyses using alternative proxies for cash holdings, different sample periods and a two-stage least squares approach to address endogeneity concerns.

This study finds a significant negative association between female directors and cash holdings, suggesting that female board members may promote more conservative cash management practices. However, this relationship weakens post-quota implementation, becoming statistically insignificant. This implies that while quotas increase female representation, they do not necessarily enhance corporate governance effectiveness regarding cash management. The pre-quota positive link between female directors and excess cash holdings also becomes insignificant post-quota.

The study focuses on female directors’ impact on cash holdings, excluding potential effects on other board subcommittees or functions. It does not capture long-term benefits of increased female representation, which may emerge as the pool of qualified female directors grows. Future research should explore broader implications of gender diversity guidelines and other diversity dimensions across various corporate governance aspects and institutional contexts.

This research provides empirical evidence from an emerging market context on the understudied impact of gender diversity on cash holdings. It critically evaluates the unintended consequences of mandatory gender quotas, highlighting the complexity of regulatory interventions in corporate governance. The study stresses the need for policymakers to address factors limiting the effectiveness of such quotas and to consider potential suboptimal outcomes when increasing female board representation without a corresponding increase in the supply of qualified female directors.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between the characteristics of the board of directors and the distribution of dividends. This study specifically examines the effect of gender diversity on dividend payout for French SBF companies using panel data.

This study examines a sample of 70 non-financial French companies from the SBF 120 index from 2011 to 2019. A quantile regression approach is applied to the empirical analysis since it offers a more comprehensive description of the entire conditional distribution of the dividend payout and not only its average as in classical linear regression. The main goal is to investigate whether the impact of gender diversity characteristics varies among the different quantiles of the dividend conditional distribution.

The findings reveal distinct effects of gender board characteristics on dividend distribution across various levels. Furthermore, this study investigates the nonlinear relationship between female directors and dividend payout. This paper identifies an inverted U-shaped relationship between female directors and dividend payout, which aligns with the critical mass theory.

Quantile regression method offers a better understanding of the impact of female representation at different levels of the distributions of the dividend payout ratio. This surpasses the limitations of simple linear regression models, which focus exclusively on the impact on the mean.

The objective of authorities should extend beyond merely achieving a numerical quota. Instead, they should focus on ensuring a substantial and meaningful representation of women in decision-making positions. This may involve implementing initiatives dedicated to promoting genuine diversity and achieving a balance of skills, experiences and perspectives within governance bodies.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that examines the impact of gender diversity on dividend payout policy for non-financial French companies using the quantile regression technique.