Usama Laique, Fahad Abdullah, Rebeca García-Ramos and Ijaz Ur Rehman
Previous studies have considered the presence of women directors on corporate boards and their impact on financial performance in isolation, disregarding their interaction with…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous studies have considered the presence of women directors on corporate boards and their impact on financial performance in isolation, disregarding their interaction with other corporate boards and firm-level attributes. Consequently, the results of such studies are largely inconclusive. This study addresses this gap by adopting a system’s approach to corporate governance characteristics and firm financial performance, rooted in a configurational approach.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis to investigate the association of outside executive women directors and family-affiliated executive women directors with financial performance in the presence of board and firm-level characteristics in 216 listed non-financial family firms in Pakistan over the period of 2014–2019.
Findings
The findings reveal that various configurations of board and firm characteristics lead to high financial performance, underscoring conjunction, equifinality and asymmetry. The authors note that, the presence of outside executive women directors on corporate boards is frequently associated with high financial performance compared to family-affiliated executive women directors. Additionally, results indicates that presence of either outside executive women directors, family-affiliated executive women directors or both on corporate board associates with low level of leverage and vice versa. Moreover, high proportion of independent directors, large board size and large firm size are frequently associated with high ROE and Tobin’s Q.
Originality/value
This study introduces a novel perspective by integrating board and firm-level characteristics using a configurational approach. Focusing on listed non-financial family firms, the study highlights the asymmetric association between women directors and financial performance, suggesting that their impact fluctuates based on their combination with other board- and firm-level attributes. The study’s findings challenge the notion of a one-size-fits-all approach to board gender diversity and call for a more contextual understanding of how different types of women directors contribute to firm performance in family firms.
Details
Keywords
Ali Kutan, Usama Laique, Fiza Qureshi, Ijaz Ur Rehman and Faisal Shahzad
The extant literature provides substantial evidence that various facets of national culture play a significant role in corporate financial decision making. We systematically…
Abstract
Purpose
The extant literature provides substantial evidence that various facets of national culture play a significant role in corporate financial decision making. We systematically review the role of national culture on the various thematic domains of corporate financial decision making to outline what have been studies thus far and what needs to be studied.
Design/methodology/approach
Keywords such as national culture, organizational culture, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, risk aversion and individualism for a search in the prominent academic literature databases are used. The studies related to the corporate financial decision making that is tied with these keywords are identified and selected for the systematic review.
Findings
The review of extant literature suggests strong evidence that national culture has a significant role in influencing corporate cash holding, corporate risk-taking, individual behaviour of the financial managers and initial public offering by the corporations. The review also indicates, although extant studies have examined the role of national culture in the key corporate financial decisions, evidence on the role of national culture in the firm's investment efficiency aspects is rather scarce. Also, what explains the role of national culture in corporate financial decision making has not been empirically exploited through causal mechanisms.
Practical implications
The findings of the studies help advance our understanding of the current research status concerning the role played by the national culture in shaping corporate financial decisions and raise important future calls.
Originality/value
To best of our knowledge, no prior study has systematically reviewed the role of national culture in the thematic domains of corporate financial decision making.