Gender diversity and corporate risk-taking: a literature review

Abstract

PurposeThe investigation of the relationship between gender diversity and corporate risk-taking is a recent stream of research. In this study, the authors propose an answer to the following main question: What do the authors know about gender effects in corporate risk-taking and how should we proceed?Design/methodology/approachIn order to ensure the quality and the objectiveness of the literature review, the authors selected articles published in journals that are simultaneously ranked by the Chartered Association of Business Schools (ABS, 2018) and by the Journal Citation Reports (JCR, 2018), focused on the Board of Directors (BoD) and Top Management Teams (TMT).FindingsThe literature review reveals that women's presence on the BoD and TMT impacts corporate risk-taking in different ways. Based on the analysis, it is possible to organize the extant findings in two major categories, according to gender measures, firm type and country of origin: (1) universal effects – women decrease firms' litigation risk, failure risk and operational risk while they have no significant effect on insolvency risk and; (2) contingent effects – women have contingent effects on financial risk, manipulation risk, total risk, idiosyncratic risk and systematic risk.Originality/valueCovering several different research fields, this study provides a comprehensive review concerning what the authors know regarding the effects of the BoD and TMT gender diversity in corporate risk-taking. The authors present a model summarizing empirical findings and propose a number of avenues for future research.