CEO Gender Research Articles

Chief executive officer’s gender and firm performance in the JSE SRI firms

This paper evaluated the relationship between chief executive officers’ gender and firm performance. Therefore, the specific objectives of the paper were: 1) to evaluate the relationship between the CEO’s gender and company turnover; 2) to assess the relationship, the CEO’s gender and share price; 3) to examine the relationship between the CEO’s gender and net profit. The paper applied the positivist research method, which is a quantitative approach as it sought to measure the relationship between variables. Secondary Data on CEO gender, turnover, share price and net profit were collected from the archives of integrated report of 16 JSE SRI Companies that had a complete disclosure of the research variables. The paper used the Chi-square statistics (Phi and Cramer’s V tests) to test the relationship between CEO gender, turnover, share price and net profit. Findings from the statistical results showed that the Phi and Cramer’s V test gave a P value greater than 0.05 (P>0.05), which shows that within the sample of companies, there is no significant relationship between CEO’s gender, net profit, share price and turnover. The research concludes and recommends that gender might not necessarily affect performance, at least within the sample of companies, therefore, there should be no gender discrimination on CEO’s position. Women should, therefore, receive support to assume the position of CEO. This finding provides an agenda for further research to use broader sample across industry sectors to examine this relationship further, as gender is an important component of sustainable development goals.

Firm Efficiency, Foreign Ownership and CEO Gender in Corrupt Environments

We study the effects of corruption on firm efficiency using a unique dataset of private firms from 14 Central and Eastern European countries from 2000 to 2013. We find that an environment characterized by a high level of corruption has an adverse effect on firm efficiency. This effect is stronger for firms with a lower propensity to behave corruptly, such as foreign-controlled firms and firms managed by female CEOs, while local firms and firms with male CEOs are not disadvantaged. We also find that an environment characterized by considerable heterogeneity in the perception of corruption is associated with an increase in firm efficiency. This effect is particularly strong for foreign-controlled firms from low corruption countries, while no effect is observed for firms managed by a female CEO.

The glass ceiling in context: the influence of CEO gender, recruitment practices and firm internationalisation on the representation of women in management

This study examines macro‐level organisational determinants of women in management. Specifically, we examined organisational characteristics and strategies, including firm levels of internationalisation, firm foreign ownership, chief executive officer gender and the active recruitment of women, as predictors of an organisation's level of representation of women in management. Results from a survey of 278 firms indicated that the presence of a female chief executive officer and an organisation's active recruitment of women are positively associated with a firm's percentage of women in management while firm internationalisation and firm foreign ownership are negatively associated with the representation of women in management. Overall, these findings suggest that although firms exercise discretion with respect to hiring and promoting women, they are also constrained by the external environment and organisational characteristics. For example, firms with higher levels of firm internationalisation and that are foreign‐owned may limit their efforts and investment in the advancement of women into management.

CEO age and gender: Subsequent market performance

AbstractThe issue of CEO age and gender vs. concurrent performance is extensively examined, but the association with subsequent performance has limited treatment in the financial literature, and with conflicting findings. In the current study, we examine the association between CEO age and gender, and subsequent company market performance using a more recent set of observations and the standard four-factor model to estimate future cumulative abnormal shareholder returns. We find that subsequent abnormal shareholder returns are marginally significantly higher for female CEOs than for their male counterparts, but no material pattern is observed between CEO age and subsequent abnormal shareholder return performance.

CEO Gender, Power, and Bank Performance: Evidence from Chinese Banks

In a sample of Chinese banks, we find that female CEOs are not necessarily less powerful than male CEOs and that their performance is also just as good. As women reach the top, they hold higher ownership and greater prestige power than male CEOs. Female CEOs even outperform males when the banks are not state-owned enterprises or their largest owner is not the government. Female CEOs show their impact through their power: those with a higher compensation share or greater power are positively related to the banks’ performance. Our results show that female CEOs who overcome gender barriers are less traditional and more self-directed than their peers.

CEO gender, corporate risk-taking, and the efficiency of capital allocation

We extend the literature on how managerial traits relate to corporate choices by documenting that firms run by female CEOs have lower leverage, less volatile earnings, and a higher chance of survival than otherwise similar firms run by male CEOs. Additionally, transitions from male to female CEOs (or vice versa) are associated with economically and statistically significant reductions (increases) in corporate risk-taking. The results are robust to controlling for the endogenous matching between firms and CEOs using a variety of econometric techniques. We further document that this risk-avoidance behavior appears to lead to distortions in the capital allocation process. These results potentially have important macroeconomic implications for long-term economic growth.

Do women advance equity? The effect of gender leadership composition on LGBT-friendly policies in American firms

We advance the literature on the demographic factors that shape organizational outcomes by analyzing the impact of the gender composition of firm leadership on the likelihood that a firm will adopt lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)-friendly policies. Drawing on social role and token theory, we test the relative impact of CEO gender and the gender composition of the board of directors separately and together in order to identify the effects of gender diversity at the top of the organization. We rely on a unique data set that includes corporate policies (gender identity and sexual orientation non-discrimination policies, domestic-partner benefits, and overall corporate equality index scores) as well as the gender of the CEO and board of directors among Fortune 500 firms over a 10-year period. Our findings suggest that firms with gender-diverse boards are more likely than other firms to offer LGBT-friendly policies, whereas findings for firms with women CEOs offer mixed results.

How New CEO Gender and the Board Composition Affect the Amount of First Pay

Despite the theoretical support for the idea that female leaders are undervalued than their male counterparts, empirical studies on gender gap in executive compensation have yielded mixed results. Knowing this, we suggest an alternative approach to investigate the phenomenon. Using data on the first pay of newly appointed CEOs, we show that new female CEOs tend to receive a significantly lesser amount of first pay than new male CEOs. Also, we find that an increasing proportion of outside directors in corporate boards reduces this tendency both by increasing the first pay of new female CEOs and by decreasing the first pay of new male CEOs. Contrary to our expectation, however, the proportion of female directors has no interaction effects between new CEO gender and the amount of first pay. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Women in Jordanian banks and performance: Financial accounting measurement

This study highlights the gender diversity issues in the banking sector taking into consideration their impact on the performance measured by profitability (ROA). As the banking sector has widely been ignored from the previous studies due to their strict system, this study empirically examined the impact of the CEO gender and board with a female director on the performance of the Jordanian commercial banks in a period from 2004 to 2013. The multiple regression analysis shows that the banks with female CEOs underperform their counterparts run by male CEOs. The reason could be due to their harmonious relationships orientation; that is, women do not tend to invest in risky investments. However, female director plays insignificant roles on the performance which supports the evidence of tokenism as argued by the psychological social theory.

"To Buy, Or Not To Buy? The Influence Of CEO Gender On Acquisition Investment Behavior"

Some research suggests that women must act like men once in the upper echelon. At the same time, other work has shown that female and male executives often behave very differently. In this study, w...

What do we know about executive compensation at small privately held firms?

We examine executive compensation using data from two nationally representative samples of small privately held US corporations conducted 10 years apart—in 1993 and 2003. We find that executive pay at small privately held firms increases with firm size and varies widely by industry, consistent with stylized facts about executive pay at public companies. From 1993 to 2003, inflation-adjusted executive pay declined at small privately held companies, in contrast to the run-up in executive pay at large public companies over the same period. Executive pay is higher at more complex organizations, is inversely related to CEO ownership and financial risk and is related to CEO age, education and gender.

Gender and other major board characteristics in China: Explaining corporate dividend policy and governance

This study examines the association between Chinese stock issuers’ board characteristics and dividends. We focus on the gender of CEO and accompanying board members, as well as other salient board demographics and characteristics. Using more than 9,000 firm-year observations, we observe little difference in the dividend distributions of female- and male-led Chinese firms. Other salient demographics, notably CEO age and tenure bear a strong positive association with cash distributions. Cash pay-out is also increasing in directors’ equity stakes and state ownership. In a general sense, the proportion of independent directors on boards bears only limited association with cash pay-out. However, in state-invested entities, greater independent director presence acts as a brake against cash distributions. We challenge a lingering perception in the investment literature that women are significantly more risk-averse than men. Cross-cultural theory suggests that risk aversion is manifest in greater cash retention and thus lower pay-outs (Bae, Chang, & Kang, The Journal of Financial Research, 35(2): 289–316, 2012; Khambata & Liu, Journal of Asia-Pacific Business, 6(4): 31–43, 2005). Building on this literature, and extending it specifically to gender, our results are consistent with male and female CEOs displaying comparable levels of risk aversion. They are also congruent with “financial knowledge” lessening gender-based differences in risk aversion (Hibbert, Lawrence, & Prakash, Global Finance Journal, 24: 140–152, 2013) and/or its general absence in the specific field of financial decisions (Schubert, Brown, Gysler, & Brachinger, The American Economic Review, 89(2): 381–385, 1999). We also emphasize theory on managerial power (Allen, Social Forces, 60(2): 482–494, 1981) and entrenchment. Results for CEO tenure and age support notions of CEO entrenchment, while those for duality do not. In contrast to agency theory, but consistent with tunneling arguments, the present study stresses the overarching role of state-ownership in increasing (decreasing) cash (stock) payouts. We observe non-monotonic effects in this relation, thus extending related findings elsewhere (Huang, Chen, & Kao, Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 29: 39–58, 2012).

The Bond Market Responses to Female CEOS Appointment

In recent years, studies in corporate governance have focused on understanding the effect of CEO gender on firm performance, stock returns and related risks. However, little research been conducted to uncover the effect of CEO’s gender on bond performance and debtholders return. Using 65 female CEO appointments and a matching sample of 65 male CEO appointments, we examine whether gender of the newly appointed CEOs affect debtholders’ wealth. We conduct a bond event study using the abnormal bond returns measure as proposed by Bessembinder et al. (2009) and subsequently refined by Ederington et al. (2013). Our results suggested that debtholders’ reaction differ significantly to the news of CEOs appointment based on gender. In fact, they react negatively to the appointment of a female CEO and positively to the appointment of male CEO. Our results are robust after controlling for firm, board, bond and CEO characteristics. We believe that the negative reaction to female CEOs appointment might be explained by the fact that such appointments are relatively new, therefore debtholders might have not yet incorporated the largely cited characteristic of female manager’s higher inclination to risk aversion as an element of reduced risk.

The impact of demographic characteristics of CEOs and directors on audit fees and audit delay

Purpose– The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of gender and ethnicity of CEO and audit committee members (directors) on audit fees and audit delay in the US firms.Design/methodology/approach– Audit-related corporate governance literature has extensively examined the determinants of audit fees and audit delay by focusing on board characteristics, specifically board independence, diligence and expertise. The authors provide empirical evidence that gender and ethnicity diversity in corporate leadership and boardrooms influence a firm’s audit fees and audit delay.Findings– This study finds that firms with female and ethnic minority CEOs pay significantly higher audit fees than those with male Caucasian CEOs. The authors also find that firms with a higher percentage of ethnic minority directors on their audit committee pay significantly higher audit fees. Further, the authors find that firms with female CEOs have shorter audit delay than firms with male CEOs and firms with a higher percentage of female and ethnic minority directors on their audit committee are associated with shorter audit delay. Results indicate that female CEOs and both female and ethnic minority directors are sensitive to the market pressure to avoid audit delay.Research limitations/implications– The results suggest that gender and ethnic diversity could improve audit quality and the firms’ overall financial reporting quality.Practical implications– This study provides insights to regulators and policy-makers interested in increasing diversity within a firm’s board and top executives. Recently, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the European Commission have been pressing publicly traded companies to improve diversity among their directors. This study provides evidence and perspective on how diversity can enhance financial reporting quality measured by audit fees and audit delay.Originality/value– Previous studies have not given much attention on the impact of racial ethnicity in addition to gender characteristics of top executives and audit committee directors on audit fees and audit delay.

CEO gender and corporate cash holdings. Are female CEOs more conservative?

In this paper, we empirically investigate how CEO gender affects corporate cash holdings and the over-investment of free cash flow among Chinese listed firms. Thereby, we utilize a sample of 468 listed firms with female CEOs and a matched sample of firms with male CEOs during 2007–2011. We then make a distinction between listed SOEs and non-SOEs in China. The empirical results show that female CEOs are associated with a higher level of corporate cash holdings, especially in Chinese listed non-SOEs. Compared with their male counterparts, female CEOs are more concerned with the precautionary motive of cash, while they care less about the opportunity cost of cash. Besides, we find that female CEOs moderate the over-investment problem of free cash flow, again indicating that they are more conservative than their male counterparts. The latter finding is more pronounced in the subsample of Chinese listed SOEs.

The Impact of Demographic Characteristics of CEOs and Directors on Audit Fees and Audit Delay

This study examines the impact of gender and ethnicity of CEO and directors on audit fees and audit delay. We find that firms with female and ethnic minority CEOs pay significantly higher audit fee...

CEO Gender Differences: A Meta-analytic Review

Inconsistent findings on key differences between male and female CEOs have been reported. However, there are no systematic reviews on CEO gender differences. This study addresses the void in the li...

Examining The Effect Of Change In CEO Gender, Functional And Educational Background On Firm Performance And Risk

The purpose of this paper is to examine, within a succession framework, the impact of the change in CEO gender from female to male on firm performance and probability of bankruptcy. We also examine the impact of change in CEO functional and educational background on firm performance and probability of bankruptcy. We use paired sample t-tests and ordinary least squares regression analysis on 46 CEO successions where the outgoing CEO is a female and the incoming CEO is a male. The results show that a change in CEO gender from female to male is associated with an increase in firm performance and a decrease in the firm probability of bankruptcy. Furthermore, the percentage change in firm performance is negatively related to the change in CEO functional and educational background. The percentage change in firm probability of bankruptcy is positively related to the change in CEO functional and educational background. Firm management and board of directors should be aware that there is such a thing as too much change around a succession event and that it has an adverse effect on firm performance and probability of bankruptcy

On the Presence and Absence of CEO Gender Effects on Management Control Choices: An Empirical Investigation

Addressing the scarcity of gender research in management control studies, this study examines whether CEO gender is a significant variable in explaining cross-sectional variation in management control choices after controlling for firm and industry context, for the presence of a board and for the individual CEO’s experiences. Using survey data our results reveal an incremental explanatory power for CEO gender with control practices that to a large extent serve a CEO’s own managerial decision making, such as action planning and the use of financial performance measures for company target setting and evaluation. We observe no gender effect at all with respect to those controls that are used almost exclusively to communicate with and guide employees (i.e., reward, compensation, and administrative controls). Based on insights from the literature on stereotypical gender role attributes, the results of our study imply that female CEOs sometimes conform to their gender role for controls which serve their own decision making and conform to their leadership role when controls involve communicating, guidance, evaluating, and rewarding. With this study we contribute not only to the control literature, but also more broadly to manager-effect studies by integrating different literatures to provide more insight into when CEO gender matters to explain control choices. We illustrate that differences in context and differences in control purposes wipe out a number of stereotype-driven perceptions.

A review of the gender effect on pay, corporate performance and entry into top management

The frequency of women occupying the CEO office has increased but remains at low levels, less than 5% for the Fortune 500 companies. Several studies during the last decade consider the barriers that women may face when competing for top management positions. Other research examines potential compensation differences. More recently, some researchers show that CEO gender could affect corporate performance. This review paper summarizes these findings and suggests areas where more inquiry is needed to resolve conflicting results.