Search results

The main objective of this paper is to analyze the influence of multiple directorships, as a critical component of board social capital, on CSR reporting. This study also explores the moderating effect of certain board attributes on multiple directorships.

The authors’ sample is composed of Spanish listed firms in the Madrid Stock Exchange for the period 2011–2017. A dynamic panel data model based on the Generalized Method of Moments (GMMs) is employed.

Relying on a resource dependence view, the authors’ results highlight an ambiguously positive association between multiple directorships and the level of CSR reporting. In particular, this relationship is positively moderated by both board size and gender diversity.

These findings contribute to academic debates concerning the value of board members intellectual capital. In particular, the authors emphasize the importance of board social capital, as well as the need to consider the context in which directors make decisions.

This evidence may prove helpful to firms when configuring the board of directors, and for regulators and professionals when refining their legislations and recommendations.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that empirically analyzes the impact of an important element of board social capital, such as multiple directorships, on CSR reporting, which has become crucial in financial markets.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how board diversity affects firm financial outcomes through the way in which this diversity helps to improve voluntary disclosures.

The partial least squares (PLS) technique is used, and a sample of the manufacturing firms listed in Standard and Poor’s 500 for 2009 is studied. In relation to board diversity, two specific characteristics are considered, namely, gender diversity and ethnic diversity. Content analysis techniques are used to measure risk disclosures.

The results show that there is a positive association between board diversity and firms’ financial outcomes, which is explained by disclosing risk information.

The results indicate that the effect of boards of directors on firm outcoumes is influenced by the board involvement in specific strategies, thereby providing encouraging opportunities for future research.

These findings have implications both for companies, when selecting board members, and for policymakers, when establishing requirements concerning board composition. Moreover, the evidence highlights the role of disseminating risk information, which has direct implications for managers and regulators, who may better understand the value-relevance of risk disclosures.

The use of PLS technique is one of the novelties of this paper. The novelty of this approach provides fresh insights into the literature, highlighting that the effect of boards on firm outcomes may be mediated by director involvement in specific disclosure strategies.

The purpose of this study is to examine how the accounting expertise of audit committee members is associated with the disclosure of forward-looking information.

Manual content analysis is used to analyze forward-looking information disclosed in annual reports as well as gather data about the accounting expertise of directors. Regression analysis is performed to study the association between the disclosure variables and the accounting expertise of audit committee members.

The results show that the accounting expertise of audit committee members is associated with forward-looking disclosure practices, particularly with information of a financial and strategic nature.

The evidence has direct implications for companies in the selection of directors, as stakeholders may demand nomination committees to appoint audit committees with the accounting experts. They may also request regulatory actions regarding the structure of the audit committee, as these add to the evidence on the benefits of selecting such experts.

The evidence on the role of accounting expertise could also help the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to narrow the definition of financial expertise to specifically consider accounting expertise, as is already happening in the EU context.

This paper extends prior research on corporate governance and voluntary disclosure by showing the association between the company having at least one accounting expert in the audit committee and the level of disclosure of value-relevant information.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between the financial expertise (accounting and non-accounting) of female directors in the audit committee and the voluntary disclosure of financial forward-looking information.

The sample is composed of companies belonging to the Standard and Poor`s 100 Index in 2016. Content analysis techniques are used to analyze both information disclosed in annual reports and the financial expertise of female directors.

The results fail to find an association between the presence of women in the audit committee and the disclosure of financial forward-looking information. However, the disclosure of this information is associated with the presence of female audit committee members with financial expertise, especially accounting expertise.

The academic implications are related with the need for a consideration of the personal attributes of female directors to understand their role in the boardroom or on subcommittees.

Given the importance of financial forward-looking information in the capital markets, these findings will also help policymakers and managers to implement effective corporate governance structures and will have significant implications for the selection of female audit committee members.

This paper is the first to examine whether the specific expertise of female directors, beyond mere gender, makes a difference in financial forward-looking disclosure strategies.

While the presence of women in the boardroom has been steadily increasing, shareholders have taken action to push firms which lag in this area to add women to their boards. The purpose of this study is to examine whether firms with more gender homogenous (i.e. male-dominated) boards are disproportionately targeted with shareholder proposals calling for increased board gender diversity, how gender diversity among other firm leadership moderates this relationship, and whether firms respond.

Firth logistic regression is used to analyze the rare occurrence of a shareholder proposal within a sample of 7,226 firm year observations from S&P 1,500 firms in the USA between 2010 and 2017. Ordinary least squares regression is used to examine the subsequent three-year change in board gender diversity using a sample of 3,917 firm year observations.

The empirical findings indicate that firms with gender homogenous boards are more likely to incur shareholder proposals aimed at increasing board gender diversity. Having women in leadership positions (e.g. as the Chief Executive Officer) weakens this relationship. Finally, despite most proposals failing to pass, board gender diversity dramatically increases following the rendering of a proposal.

This study adds to the understanding of the principal-agent relationship, offering novel insights into shareholder responses to the lack of gender diversity among the board and firm responses to such activism. Furthermore, the authors add to the understanding of expectation violations with regard to gender diversity within firm boards. Finally, the authors find that women in other leadership positions insulate the firm from such shareholder activism – an important boundary condition of the findings.

As the benefit of gender diversity continues to receive significant attention, a holistic investigation of its effect on corporate financial distress (CFD) is lacking. Therefore, this study examines the effects of board gender diversity, measured in different forms, such as the presence and proportion of female directors, family-affiliated female directors and the chief executive officer (CEO) gender, on CFD in Pakistan. The study also investigates the interacting effects of family-controlled (20 and 50% family-owned) companies on the association between board gender diversity and CFD.

The study applied the pooled cross-sectional logistic regression model to examine the effect of board gender diversity (presence and proportion of female directors, family-affiliated female directors and CEO gender) on CFD through a sample of 285 non-financial companies in Pakistan over the period of 2006–2017.

The results reveal that gender diversity on boards is significantly and negatively associated with CFD in Pakistan. In addition, when family ownership is 50% or more, the interacting effect of family control is found to be significant, while gender effects remain negative. The results suggest that female directors contribute to the long-term viability of companies, especially family-owned companies. Female directors are also found to be more prevalent in family-owned companies compared to their non-family counterparts.

The findings imply that female directors may efficiently manage and control all functions necessary to guarantee the company's long-term prosperity. Similarly, gender effects can outweigh the detrimental impact of family control when female directors are in reasonable numbers and of high quality in the boardroom.

The practical relevance of the findings is that female directors play a significant role on the corporate board. Thus, it is a wakeup call for Pakistani companies to recognize the critical role and uniqueness of women on the corporate ladder. Family companies can also galvanize on the uniqueness of women to improve their governance structure.

This study adds to the literature on the benefits of gender diversity in family and non-family-owned companies. Specifically, this study applied multiple measures of gender diversity and family control in a single study. In addition, the study was conducted in a country that is ranked as the second worst country in the Global Gender Gap Index 2022, implying that investigating this type of research would go a long way towards changing the minds of corporate executives and regulators about the critical role that women can play in the economy.

This study seeks to evaluate gender diversity within family members and analyze its effects on financial distress in firms listed in Vietnam.

The research employs a Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) regression model to assess the impact of gender diversity on corporate board performance, including factors such as the presence and proportion of female directors, female directors with family ties and the gender of CEOs. The study covers 152 listed companies on the HNX and HOSE exchanges from 2015 to 2022. The GMM model is chosen for its robustness in dealing with endogeneity issues and its ability to provide consistent estimates in the presence of potential correlation between explanatory variables and unobserved effects. This approach allows for a more accurate evaluation of how gender diversity influences operational efficiency and how these companies manage financial difficulties within the sample period.

Our research shows that diversity on the Board of Directors (BOD) as well as female CEO employment not only does not reduce the financial distress of businesses but also increases this situation. However, being both a female and a family member of the BOD is negatively related to financial distress. This can help female members who have connections with the family contribute to the work of adjusting and monitoring the business's operations to suit the family's goals, contributing to improving the operational efficiency of the business. BOD maximizes profits and contributes to promoting the company's sustainable development goals. From there, limited ability to travel and financial exhaustion.

The empirical results obtained from this study contribute to building a solid knowledge base, supporting businesses in the policymaking process and providing empirical evidence to enrich learning materials.

This study provides empirical evidence on how gender diversity influences the financial challenges of businesses, especially within the context of publicly listed companies in Vietnam. It stands out from previous literature by specifically focusing on listed companies in Vietnam. By analyzing the impact of gender diversity on financial difficulties, this study also clarifies how various factors can influence management and business development.

Corporate digital responsibility is a challenge for companies as it recognizes that the use of technology can have a significant impact on society. In addition, a whole philosophy of nonfinancial disclosure has recently been developing and has become a priority for organizations seeking to be transparent and accountable. While some companies have already adopted this approach, practices related to information transparency in corporate digital responsibility are still in their early stages, creating a need to improve reporting and promote greater understanding in this evolving field. Based on a study analyzing the disclosure of information on digitization and taking into account that the board of directors is the body in charge of companies’ disclosure policy, the study aims to identify the factors that favor this disclosure.

As established by Ponce et al. (2022), IBEX-35 companies are Public Interest Companies subject to European and international regulations and are required to provide information on economic efficiency indicators and nonfinancial indicators. In relation to the proposed objectives, the aim is to analyze the possible factors that condition the degree of dissemination of information on digitization. To this end, a multiple linear regression of the dissemination index has been proposed following the works of Gil et al. (2018), Rodríguez-Ariza et al. (2014) and Briano-Turrent & Rodríguez-Ariza (2013). The estimation will be performed using the SPSS software (version 27).

The results show that the number of independent directors has a positive influence on the level of information disclosed by companies online. Conversely – and in line with previous studies – board size does not have a significant impact on the level of information transparency.

This study has a few limitations that adversely impact the generalizability of the results. First, the subjective problem inherent in the rating and evaluation of information collected in the annual reports of sample companies cannot be excluded. Second, the consideration that each element that constitutes the IDT has the same weight, there being no weighting criteria. Finally, the study population is limited to 35 listed companies, not considering medium and small companies. Nevertheless, despite these limitations, the results are sufficiently interesting to justify and extend the research to a larger number of companies and, of course, to other stock market indices. Another interesting future line of research would be to include more independent variables to analyze what other factors determine the degree of digital transparency of companies.

The study may be useful for organizations to take into account when identifying the corporate governance characteristics that will improve the disclosure of information on digitalization, which is still incipient and voluntary. Similar considerations could be made with respect to the competent authorities in regulating the disclosure of information by companies, insofar as they should promote policies that, in general, favor corporate transparency.

This study contributes to the literature in three main ways: 1) although there is a large body of research that has explored the impact of corporate governance dimensions on the level of nonfinancial transparency, the present study pioneers the approach to digitalization disclosure in Spanish listed companies; 2) it provides evidence that it is highly advisable to have a majority of independent directors to achieve a higher degree of digital disclosure; and 3) the results of this research show the current state of digital transparency on the websites of most of the listed companies in Spain, which could serve as a benchmark for those responsible for issuing corporate governance policies and guidelines.

This study aims to investigate the role of women in business leadership, specifically the effect of women on boards (WoB) on corporate environmental responsibility engagement (CERE) and corporate financial performance (CFP) in the Indonesian manufacturing companies. Furthermore, it also examines whether CERE mediates the WoB – CFP relationship.

This is quantitative research using secondary data obtained from the Indonesian Stock Exchange and the website of each company. Using agency theory, upper echelon theory and sustainability theory, 645 firm-year data from the period of 2015–2019 are analysed. The partial least squares structural equation modelling is used to test the hypotheses studied.

The results indicate that WoB is positively associated with CFP and CERE, CERE is positively associated with CFP and CERE mediates the effect of WoB on CFP. The samples are derived from the manufacturing industry; thus, it limits its generalisation. The result implies that investors need to increase the proportion of WoB to enhance CFP. For management, it implies that WoB has an important role in increasing environmental responsibility. For regulators, such as the Indonesian Financial Service Authority, it provides useful information for policymaking in terms of increasing the proportion of WoB and the need for a sustainability report. With increased WoB and CERE, CFP will be better so that society will also gain increased social benefits.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the topic is rarely investigated, especially in the two-tier governance system that uses WoB, CERE and CFP. By investigating the impact of women’s presence on the board of commissioners and the board of directors, this research provides crucial empirical evidence for the agency theory, upper echelon theory and sustainability theory. A new data set also has been created for this research.

This study aims to investigate the nexus between gender-diverse boards and cost of debt in the developing economies context. Specifically, the authors examine whether firm size moderates the relationship between female board representation and cost of debt, regardless of the industry type.

The authors use panel data from 17 non-financial listed Ghanaian firms over the period 2007–2017, ordinary least square, two-stage least square and generalised method of moments estimations to test the hypothesis.

The authors find that board gender diversity is positively related to cost of debt. Further evidence suggests the interaction of firm size and board gender diversity displays a negative association with cost of debt.

The study evidence suggests larger non-manufacturing firms with gender-diverse boards attract lower cost of capital in an environment with lax enforcement of rules and regulations in corporate governance.

Lenders consider the size and industry of firms in pricing debt. This has implications on UN Goal 5, highlighting that shareholders of larger non-manufacturing firms benefit immensely from board gender diversity in the context of debt.

The authors contribute to the board gender diversity and cost of debt literature by demonstrating that firm size and industry type matter in the developing economies context.