Male CEOs Research Articles

The Influence of Women’s Leadership on Organizational Alignment with Sustainable Development Goals: A Discriminant Analysis Approach

Although it seems that the roles of leaders in sustainable development are extremely important, it is not entirely clear whether the obstacles for women leaders in this context have really changed and to what extent there is still gender discrimination in this domain. In line with this, the study investigates the relationship between the gender of the leaders and the alignment of organizations with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations. With the growing emphasis on sustainability in business practices, understanding how leadership, particularly CEO gender, influences corporate sustainability initiatives is crucial. The research adopts a quantitative approach to analyze data from organizations led by both male and female CEOs across various industries. By considering the 17 SDGs as independent variables, the study aims to discern whether organizations led by female CEOs exhibit a stronger commitment to specific sustainability goals compared to those led by male CEOs. The analysis seeks to uncover patterns in goal prioritization and explore whether gendered leadership affects sustainability outcomes. The findings are expected to provide insights into how leadership characteristics impact an organization’s sustainability strategies and could suggest future policies and practices aimed at enhancing gender diversity in leadership roles.

Female CEOs and Green Innovation: Evidence from Asian Firms

This study aims to examine how female CEOs influence green innovation and whether firm size moderates this connection. Our paper focuses on CEOs, who are considered the strategic leaders of corporations, because of their crucial role in making important decisions. This research paper examines how female CEOs influence green innovation (GI) in the Asian industrial sector. The primary goal is to address these research questions: Do Asian industrial firms with female and male CEOs differ in their GI efforts? Is there a positive moderating influence of Asian industrial enterprises’ size on the nexus between women in CEO positions and eco-innovation? Based on our research questions, firm size is likely a determining factor in the GI of female CEOs. This research employs rigorous econometric modeling to analyze a substantial dataset of listed Asian industrial companies from 2013 to 2022. We have found a significant positive correlation between female CEOs and GI in Asian industrial firms. It has been proven that female CEOs in the industrial sector are more inclined to promote environmentally friendly practices. Furthermore, the size of an industrial firm amplifies the beneficial influence of a female CEO on the firm’s chances of engaging in GI initiatives. Regarding the moderating effect of size, the size of companies significantly magnifies the impact of female CEOs on GI. The effectiveness of female CEOs on environmentally friendly practices is more prominent in large corporations than in smaller ones. Our outcomes remain robust with respect to endogeneity issues using two-step GMM estimators. This study proposes that stakeholders, particularly in Asian countries, should promote the increased representation of females in CEO roles, particularly within large corporations. This is because women-led companies demonstrate superior performance in GI endeavors. Hence, regulators must establish policies that facilitate the participation of women in CEO positions within large-scale enterprises. These policies may strengthen the private sector’s capacity to foster sustainable innovation.

The influence of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance on management tone manipulation – evidence from China

PurposeThis paper explores the association between directors’ and officers’ liability insurance (D&O insurance) and management tone manipulation.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses data from A-share listed non-financial companies from 2009 to 2021 as its sample for empirical tests. In addition, the study relies on text analysis and the construction of models to investigate the relationship between D&O insurance and management tone manipulation.FindingsThe authors find that the purchase of D&O insurance will lead to management tone manipulation in the “management discussion and analysis” part of companies’ annual reports, and operating risk and agent cost are the two paths for the effect. Further analysis shows that having a male CEO and employing high-quality auditors can weaken the positive impact of D&O insurance on tone manipulation.Originality/valueThis paper provides a new approach for studying the literature related to D&O insurance and management behavior, and the findings enrich our understanding of the influencing factors and the mechanism of management tone manipulation, thus revealing policy implications for further standardization of the terms and system of D&O insurance in China.

CEO GENDER AND FIRM PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The COVID 19 pandemic precipitated an unprecedented deceleration of economic activities and a stock market crash. The unparalleled shock and the altered risk attitudes present a distinctive opportunity to examine whether the well-established concept of the "glass ceiling" is indicative of latent gender differentials in company performance. Utilizing US financial data, the study employs a range of methodologies to examine whether firms led by female CEOs exhibited the same performance as firms led by male CEOs during 2020-2021. Our empirical results confirm previous findings from the finance literature, as we neither find a systematic difference in returns to holding stock in female-led firms, nor a difference in accounting returns between female-led and male-headed firms.

CEO gender and responses to shareholder activism

AbstractRecent literature finds that firms led by female CEOs are more likely to be targeted by activist shareholders and that female CEOs are more likely to cooperate with activist shareholders' requests. Our study complements this literature by using two controlled experiments and a series of semi‐structured interviews with CEOs and CFOs to investigate how a CEO's response to shareholder activism influences investors' reactions and whether these reactions differ depending on the gender of the CEO or on how their response is explained. In the first experiment, we find that investors evaluate a firm as less attractive when a female CEO uses an uncooperative response rather than a cooperative response to shareholder activism, absent any explanation for the CEO's response. Conversely, investors evaluate a firm as less attractive when a male CEO uses a cooperative response rather than an uncooperative response. In the second experiment, where there is an added explanation for the CEO response, we find that investors react more positively to a female CEO's uncooperative response when the explanation is more communal (vs. agentic). Our interviews with CEOs and CFOs provide insights into how the gender of firms' leadership may play a role when activist shareholders target firms. Our results collectively suggest that investors rely on gender stereotypes when evaluating the responses of male and female executives to shareholder activism and that these evaluations affect their investment judgments. Our results also suggest a potential alternative explanation for the finding that female CEOs are more likely to cooperate with activist shareholders than are male CEOs. Rather than inherent differences in the management styles of male and female CEOs, responses to activist shareholders may be driven, at least in part, by managers anticipating that they will be penalized by investors for deviating from gender‐stereotypical behavior.

Rumor has it: CEO gender and response to organizational denials.

The ambiguous credibility of online allegations can pose a significant threat to an organization's reputation, relationships with stakeholders, and future performance. As a result, addressing false or misleading allegations has emerged as an important priority among corporate executives. In this research, we examine how CEO gender influences the effectiveness of different types of denial responses in the wake of rumor crises. We find that, after reading damaging allegations about an organization, consumers react more favorably to denials issued by male versus female CEOs. We argue that this is attributable to the dominance that characterizes denial responses, which results in a greater (negative) expectancy violation for female (vs. male) CEOs issuing such statements. Such violations result in lower trust in, and less willingness to do business with, organizations led by women (vs. men) who issue a denial response. We show that these relationships are moderated by increased prescriptive agency (i.e., clarified denials) and the attribution of the response (i.e., to the CEO vs. organization). Taken together, our findings have implications for theory on agentic characteristics, crisis communication, and female leadership, as well as practical implications for how all organizations can adopt more effective crisis responses. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Co‐opted Independent Directors and Firms' Environmental Performance

ABSTRACTResearch Question/IssueConsidering escalating environmental concerns and the important role of board members in shaping strategic corporate decisions, we investigate the relationship between co‐opted independent directors and firms' environmental performance.Research Findings/InsightsExamining US firms from 2002 to 2018, we document a significant negative relationship between co‐opted independent directors and firm environmental performance. Our findings show that while institutional ownership and CEO power exacerbate the negative association, strong corporate governance mitigates this negative impact of co‐opted independent directors on environmental performance. The cross‐sectional results show that the relationship is pronounced in firms with young CEOs, male CEOs, and low CEO compensation. Further, the relationship is also prevalent in boards with fewer meetings, high multiple directors, and higher compensation, indicating a monitoring compromise by independent co‐opted directors.Theoretical/Academic ImplicationsReasonable theoretical arguments are drawn from agency theory and the theory of friendly boards, and our statistical analysis supports the academic position of the theory of friendly boards. The negative effect of independent co‐opted directors on firm environmental performance challenges the role of independent directors in addressing agency issues in environmental efforts, hinting at a departure from conventional agency theory expectations.Practitioner/Policy ImplicationsTo improve environmental performance, firms should reconsider their board structures, acknowledging the potential drawbacks of co‐opted independent directors. Our findings challenge the Sarbanes–Oxley Act's (SOX) emphasis on increasing the number of outside directors, which assumes independent board members will rigorously oversee executives. Such legislation is greatly based on the premise that independent board members strictly monitor executives. However, our findings indicate that not all independent directors are strict monitors, as demonstrated by lower environmental performance when there are more co‐opted independent directors.

Digital Transformation and Performance of Enterprises

Under the macro background of digital China construction, it is of great practical significance to explore how enterprises can achieve the improvement of ESG performance through effective digital transformation based on the perspective of managers' learning theory. This paper takes China's A-share listed companies in 2009- -2021 as A research sample to empirically test the impact of digital transformation on the ESG performance of enterprises. The study found that the digital transformation of enterprises has significantly promoted the fulfillment of ESG responsibilities. The results of the mechanism of action show that the digital transformation of enterprises is through improving the management Sense perception and decision-making, thereby improving ESG performance. Further research based on the heterogeneity of management characteristics shows that the shadow of digital transformation on the ESG performance of enterprises is more significant among male CEOs, executives without academic background, no financial background and low management shareholding ratio. The research not only improves the learning theory of managers, but also provides empirical evidence for digital transformation to affect enterprise behavior, and provides new ideas for encouraging and guiding enterprises to fulfill ESG responsibilities.

The Review of CEO Gender: Based on the Perspective of Empirical Literature

In China, the CEO position is still dominated by men in traditional companies. However, in some emerging industries and the Internet field, there are gradually increasing numbers of female CEOs and the rise of female leadership. In the international community, male CEOs still dominate, and female CEOs are showing a gradually changing trend. CEO gender promotes economic diversity in economic construction, which helps companies better respond to market competition and changes and promotes the economic construction of enterprises. For technology, CEO gender drives innovation and problem-solving, and gender diversity encourages different ways of thinking and problem-solving, which is crucial for innovation and technological progress. At the social level, the promotion of gender diversity can help reduce gender discrimination and promote a more equal and inclusive society. All in all, the theoretical significance of CEO gender in economic construction, technological progress, and social development is to promote diversity and inclusion and create a more competitive, innovative, and just social and business environment. In practice, companies and governments should proactively take steps to ensure that more women have the opportunity to serve as CEOs and other senior leadership positions to fully leverage the advantages of gender diversity.

CEO Gender and Family Business Performance: The Moderating Role of Socio-Emotional Wealth

Family businesses are businesses that are managed and/or owned by a family. Like in any other company, the CEO is the manager and is responsible for achieving good performance. But unlike in non-family businesses, women are more represented in leadership positions and are more likely to work their way up. There is considerable disagreement in the literature about whether female CEOs outperform male CEOs. While some studies confirm this, other studies refute it, and other studies find no connection at all. In this study, we therefore investigate whether female CEOs perform better than male CEOs within family businesses. However, given the target group, it is essential not to ignore the influence of socio-emotional wealth (SEW) on this relationship, since family businesses distinguish themselves from other organizational forms with this characteristic. SEW includes the non-financial aspects of a business, such as a desire to maintain family control and family values that are incorporated into the corporate culture. According to SEW theory, family businesses focus more on maintaining SEW than pursuing purely economic prosperity. This can ensure that not all decisions are made with profit maximization in mind. To empirically test our hypotheses, we use a sample of 238 Belgian family businesses. Our results do not show any statistically significant results for the impact of the CEO’s gender on firm performance. What is significant, though, is the positive moderating effect of SEW on the relationship between CEO gender and performance in family businesses. The more SEW retention within a family business, the better the performance will be in the case of a female CEO.

Business strategy aggressiveness and firm innovation: evidence from listed companies in China

ABSTRACT Although business strategy aggressiveness plays a fundamental role in firm operations, it is unclear whether and how it affects firm innovation. Drawing on the risk perspective, this paper uses the panel data of A-share listed firms on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2008 to 2022 as research sample to explore the impact of business strategy aggressiveness on firm innovation and its boundary conditions. The results show an inverted U-shaped relationship between business strategy aggressiveness and firm innovation. In addition, older CEOs and higher-educated CEOs tend to be risk-averse, which will weaken the inverted U-shaped relationship. Male CEOs are less risk-averse, which will strengthen the inverted U-shaped relationship. The findings help analyse the mechanism of business strategy aggressiveness from the risk perspective, and provide new explanatory logic for the research on firm innovation.

The Voice of Risk: Wall Street CEOs' Voice Pitch and the 2008 Financial Crisis*

AbstractThe pitch of a male voice is an honest signal of his threat potential coming from testosterone. Recognizing endogenous matches between firms and CEOs, we propose to use voice pitch of the CEO as a proxy for the unobservable risk‐taking strategy of the firm. Using digitally analyzed male CEO voice pitch in 167 CNBC interviews during the 2008 global financial crisis, we find that deep‐voiced Wall Street CEOs (i) managed riskier firms, (ii) received more equity‐based compensation before the crisis and (iii) were more likely to be fired after the crisis, controlling for economic incentives, overconfidence, and narcissism.

Terrorism-Induced Trauma and Corporate Innovation

This research studies innovation decisions made by CEOs who have lived through the experience of a terrorist attack during their college years. Consistent with the evidence of terrorist attacks negatively affecting risk aversion and cognitive ability of people documented in the finance and psychology literature, we first find that past terrorism-induced trauma leads to more spending on R&D and less innovation output in an empirical model that controls for any concurrent events of terrorism. Second, we show how terrorism-induced trauma affects risk preference through two distinct emotional channels of anger and fear. Third, while both male and female CEOs suffer damage to their cognitive ability from terrorist attacks, only male CEOs exhibit lower risk aversion. Finally, the psychological impact of terrorism-induced trauma decays over time as evidenced by stronger results for younger CEOs and varies across CEOs' cultural origins, the results being most relevant for CEOs originating from Asia.

CEOs' hometown connections and corporate risk-taking: Evidence from China

Using hand-collected data on CEOs' hometown connections in Chinese A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2020, we find that such connections with suppliers are negatively associated with corporate risk-taking, reflected by the risk-taking behavior of CEOs with personal preference and self-interest. It is also found that the negative relationship between CEO hometown connections and corporate risk-taking is more pronounced for firms with greater economic policy uncertainty, firms in a period of tight monetary policy, firms with fewer analysts following, and firms with local CEOs, male CEOs, or CEOs without holding shares.

Your gender identity is who you are: Female chief executive officers and corporate debt structure

AbstractUsing a large sample of S&P 1500 firms during 1993–2021, we empirically examine the implications of CEO gender on corporate debt structure. We find that after controlling for endogeneity, firms managed by female CEOs issue less debt than those managed by male CEOs. Female CEOs being more risk averse than male CEOs is the underlying mechanism which drives the negative relation between female CEOs and firm leverage. Further, we find that the effect of CEO gender is more pronounced when the firm's CEO is younger, the litigation risk is higher, and the market is more competitive. In terms of debt structure, firms managed by female CEOs prefer to maintain positive debt capacity and have longer debt maturities. Finally, we show that CEO gender has a stronger impact on debt structure than CFO gender. Taken together, our evidence suggests that there exist gender differences in terms of corporate debt borrowing decision making.

Powerful female CEOs and the capital structure of firms

This study examines the impact of female CEOs and their power on corporate debt usage. Adopting the framework of Finkelstein (1992), we distinguish different power dimensions to analyze a sample of 418 CEOs of non-financial U.S. listed firms over the time period of 2007–2015. We find that the leverage of firms run by female CEOs is not different from that of firms run by male CEOs. However, when firms experience a transition of male-to-female CEOs, we find some evidence of an increase in debt. Further analysis shows that the gender effect is associated with the type of power CEOs possess. Female CEOs with structural power (reflected by low frequency of board meetings) and prestige power (reflected by education from an elite university) tend to use more debt than their powerful male peers. We recommend that the gender effect needs to be studied together with the power CEOs hold.

Research on corporate financialization and green innovation: moderating role of CEO’s individual characteristics

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the impact of corporate financialization (CF) on green innovation (GI) and further disclose the moderating role of CEO’s individual characteristics in such relationship from the perspective of corporate governance.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses empirical research methods to study the impact of CF on GI based on the evidence from China capital market.FindingsThe findings indicate that: CF has a significant inhibiting effect on GI; female CEOs weaken the inhibiting effect of CF on GI compared to male CEOs; and CEO’s financial background positively moderates the inhibiting effect of CF on GI.Originality/valueThis paper, first, supplements the research literature on the economic consequences of CF and influencing factors of GI in non-financial firms. Then, it opens up the internal impact mechanism of CF on GI, which is moderated by the individual characteristics of corporate CEOs. Finally, it provides important reference for how to suppress CF of non-financial firms, cultivate CEOs that meet the needs of corporate development and promote GI development of enterprises through empirical evidence from China.

CEO-director ties and board gender diversity: US evidence

The gender legislation enacted around the world has put enormous pressure on companies to increase the number of women on their boards. Employing US firm-specific data, we document a significant negative relationship between CEO-director ties and female representation on the board, suggesting that socially connected directors are detrimental to gender parity in senior management. We find that the situation improves in firms with female directors with valuable attributes while being moderated by CEO characteristics. Cross-sectional analyses reveal that the association is more pronounced during the low board gender diversity periods and for firms that are led by male CEOs or have weak monitoring mechanism. We rule out endogeneity concerns by performing a battery of analyses. The findings remain robust in a range of sensitivity tests. Our study offers practical implications for regulators and top management teams to improve board effectiveness, thus engendering lasting transformational change in the boardroom.

CEOs’ early famine experience, managerial discretion and corporate social responsibility

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) reflects entrepreneurs’ early life experiences in reality. Based on imprinting theory and upper echelons theory, this paper examines the impact of a CEO’s early famine experience on CSR, analyzes the moderating effects of environmental discretion (market abundance), organizational discretion (slack resources), and CEO discretion (CEO concurrently) on the above relationship, using Chinese manufacturing listed companies from 2010 to 2019 as research samples. Research shows that when CEOs have early famine experiences, their companies have better social responsibility performance. This effect is positively moderated by the environment and organizational discretion and negatively moderated by CEO discretion. Further research finds that when CEOs are in state-owned firms, the positive effect of their early famine experience on CSR will be reinforced. The early famine experience of a turnover CEO has a weakening effect on CSR. The positive performance of CSR is more pronounced for male CEOs’ early famine experience. The early famine experience of CEOs with lower education has a more significant effect on CSR. This study reveals a practical path to improve CSR motivation from CEOs’ early famine experience and provides new evidence for the research about the CEOs’ personal experience and corporate strategic decision-making.

Peran Earnings Management Memediasi Ukuran Wajah Maskulinitas CEO Pria terhadap Performance

This study investigates how earnings management affects how masculine a CEO's attitude toward performance is. Structural Equation Modeling using Software Stata is used in the study to examine data from Indonesian Stock Exchange businesses for the years 2018 through 2022. The results indicate that earnings management, with increases and decreases in earnings management having an impact on the size of the CEO's face, mediates the relationship between a male CEO's masculinity and performance. The results can aid in the development of Financial Accounting Standard No. 19 by the Indonesian Accountants Association and show that earnings management mediates the size of a CEO's manly face toward performance