Women In Top Management Positions Research Articles

CEO gender and climate change commitment: The mediating effect of environmental regulation perception

AbstractThis study delves into the influence of CEO gender on climate change commitment within SMEs in the Mediterranean region. Utilizing data from the sixth wave of the BEEPS survey (2018–2020), we explore the mediating role of environmental regulation perception in this context. Our findings align with social role theory, indicating that women demonstrate heightened ecological and communal behavior, driven by their perception of environmental regulations. We reveal a full mediation link within the EU Mediterranean region, where environmental regulation perception explains women's commitment to environmental causes. However, in the EU neighborhood, we identify a direct significant effect of CEO gender on SMEs' engagement with climate change, particularly in terms of controlling CO2 emissions. Our study sheds light on the limited presence of women in top management positions in the Mediterranean region. Additionally, we highlight the scarcity of environmental regulations for SMEs in the EU neighborhood, with the perception of these regulations as barriers hindering proactive climate change strategies. Therefore, governmental authorities need to develop more stringent environmental regulations while taking into account the financial capacities of SMEs. Providing ecological business education before implementing new regulations could also be beneficial. The study carries significant managerial and social implications, emphasizing the necessity of diverse leadership to promote sustainability and underscoring the importance of tailored regulatory initiatives for effective climate action.

The impact of the quality of corporate governance on sustainable development: an analysis based on development level

Sustainable development has gained the attention of researchers worldwide and is becoming an important topic, especially in relation to corporate governance principles. This study investigates the influence of corporate governance on sustainable development in a sample of 185 countries over 2005–2020 using a panel linear regression model. Separate analyses are also conducted on subsamples of high- and low-income countries. Our findings highlight the positive influence of corporate governance, as measured by board efficacy, the strength of audits and reports, and digitalisation, on sustainable development, as measured by the Human Development Index, Human Capital Index, and Environmental Performance Index. Moreover, we find a higher positive and marginal effect of the influence of corporate governance on sustainable development for low-income countries than for high-income countries. The robustness checks performed using variables related to the happiness index, women in top management positions, and technology adoption verify our results. Our findings are important for managers and policymakers to consolidate sustainable development through the incentive brought about by high-quality corporate governance.

She-E-Os and innovation: do female CEOs influence firm innovation?

PurposeThis paper empirically investigates whether female CEOs (She-E-Os) have an effect on firm innovation among Chinese listed firms based on patent data. This study also delved further by looking at whether the internal corporate environment moderates the effect of female CEOs on innovation, that is, state ownership. Finally, this study investigates an additional test of financial constraints to examine whether financial constraints also moderate the impact of female CEOs on firm innovation.Design/methodology/approachThis study used the data of all A-share listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges for the period from 2008 to 2017. The authors use ordinary least squares regression as a baseline methodology, along with firm-fixed effect, lagged measure of female CEOs, alternative measures of innovation, Heckman two-step model and negative binomial regression to check and control the possible issue of endogeneity.FindingsThe authors’ findings show that CEO gender plays an important role in producing higher levels of innovation output by improving the governance structure. However, female CEOs have no effect on state-owned enterprises' (SOEs) innovation activities, which suggests that the main goal of SOEs is achieving sociopolitical objectives. Furthermore, female CEOs' influence on innovation output is weaker in firms with financial constraints.Social implicationsThis study adds to the emerging global discussion on gender diversity. Many legislative bodies require a quota for women on corporate boards due to gender inequality. This study's findings reinforce such guidelines by emphasizing the economic benefits of including women in top management positions.Originality/valueThis study provides new insights by highlighting the role of female CEOs in increasing firms' innovation activities. Additionally, this study provides evidence on whether the internal corporate environment (state ownership and financial constraints) moderates female CEOs' effect on innovation.

Do Companies with Female on the Board have Effects on the Earning Management? Evidence Indonesia Manufacturing Listed Firms

This study aims to examine the influence of the presence of women on the board such as chief executive officer, chief financial officer and chief audit committee on the earning management (EM) practices and also to examine whether the educational backgrounds of women executive officials have a moderating effect on the earning management practice. The data used is secondary data from Indonesian listed manufacturing companies, hypothesis testing using regression model with partial least square test. Sampling was carried out using a purposive sampling method. The results showed that female chief executive officer and female chief financial officer did not affect earning management practice, but woman as chief audit committee affect the company's earnings management practices. Education background capable as moderating variable to strengthen the influence women as chief executive officer, chief financial officer and women as chief audit committee to earnings management practices. This research can provide contribution for users of financial statements about the possibility of differences in earnings management practices due to the presence of women in top management positions.

Breaking through the periphery: Growing role of women as leaders in Indian family businesses

Purpose: The purpose of the research was to explore whether the role of women was growing as leaders in Indian Family businesses. It attempted to find reasons for such change and to examine whether the change was benefitting family businesses. It also tried to find out whether there were any preferred sectors for women and whether gender-specific roles were changing. Methodology: Family-owned business companies were selected from the top 200 listed companies on BSE based on market capitalization to ensure availability of correct and reliable data. The analysis was carried out for women leaders in 62 family-owned business houses, where women were in the top management teams. Besides, cases of five women leaders were chosen for study based on parameters such as a minimum of 2 years in top management positions, sectors of the firms, educational qualifications of the businesswomen, levels of generation, contributions of the women leaders, career progression, and the grooming process adopted. The study was a qualitative analysis of exploratory nature. Findings: The study indicated rising trend of women holding senior positions. The analysis was performed to find out reasons for such a rising trend, the contribution of women, and whether it led to growth and better performance of such family businesses. Some of the factors identified in the study, which helped in increasing the role of women, were women getting higher education, being dissatisfied with their outside jobs, the shrinking size of families, and circumstances forcing women to join family businesses to help families in times of crises. The study also showed that women were contributing to all types of sectors in diverse functional roles. Therefore, there was nothing like the preferred sectors for women. Implications: The finding that women in top management positions were contributing a lot in family businesses validates that the change in the statutory regulations to have gender-based quotas for women on corporate boards was a step in the right direction. The study may also prompt family businesses to have a greater proportion of women in top management teams. Originality: The information was compiled from websites of the companies, Bloomberg Business profiles, Bombay Stock Exchange, and other published literature. Companies’ annual reports were also used for reference purpose and cross verification. The study is both novel and original.

Identifying Female Leadership and Performance in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in a Transition Economy: The Case Study of Vietnam

A review of the literature shows that there is no consistently positive impact on enterprise performance of female participation in business leadership (gender diversity in leadership). This study conducts direct surveys of more than 500 Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Hanoi, Vietnam, to assess the relationship between women in top management positions and enterprise performance. Unlike previous studies, which used financial indicators to measure enterprise performance, this study adopts the Balance Scorecard theory (BSC) developed by Kaplan and Norton (1996) that assesses enterprise performance based on four groups of criteria: Financial, customer, internal operating process, and training and development. In addition to the control variables used commonly in previous studies, this study adds two factors: (1) awareness of equal opportunities for men and women to become business leaders (2) appropriateness of men and women in leadership positions. The results of the study have shown no clear relationship between the percentage of female participation in leadership, and the financial results and customer development of the enterprise. However, internal operating process and training and development results are negatively affected by the participation of women on the board of directors. The inconsistency of these research results suggests the need to continue to study this topic in SMEs with larger sample size and geographic scope.

Introduction

Introduction

How is the Embodiment of Women Leadership to Alter the Stereotypically Masculine Schema for Leadership? A case of Vietnam

Nowadays, the perception on leadership has been different from traditional ones that used to align to agentic characteristics. However, for the top of mind, people normally think about masculine characteristics when referring to leadership concept. It could be so disadvantageous for female leaders that they can be trapped in the line between two perspectives: one for their nature characteristics, one for their changes to be suitable for stereotypical definitions of leadership characteristics. By in-depth interview with nine women in top management positions in Vietnam, the study aims to investigate how is the embodiment of female leadership to change the stereotypically masculine schema for leadership. An emerging finding is that women would not try to illustrate their appearance, competency as recommended in theory. Instead, they embody their leadership by bringing happiness for others, helping others to achieve high results, making others satisfied in their life and work. More importantly, they build up their followership with their sincere hearts, which is relevant to female instincts as caring, nurturing with their nature skills and warm heart. Accordingly, it turns to be a recommendation that women in their leadership should not blur their nature characteristics; instead, they should consider as their distinction strengths for their further development.

The Dilemma of Gender Equality: How Labor Market Regulation Divides Women by Class

Women shoulder a heavier burden of family work than men in modern society, preventing them from matching male success in the external labor market. Limiting working hours is a plausible way to level the playing field by creating the possibility of less gendered roles for both sexes. But why then are heavily regulated European labor markets associated with a smaller share of women in top management positions compared with liberal market economies such as in the United States? We explain this puzzle with reference to the difficulty of ambitious women to signal their commitment to high-powered careers in regulated markets.

The Paradox of Diversity At The Top

Increasingly, women in top management positions are seen as a panacea for alleviating diversity and inclusivenessissuesat all levels in the organizations through “trickle-down” effects of role modeling, concrete support and championing of diversity. Towards this end, corporations and policy-makers are putting a great deal of effort and resources into developing and implementing policies to hire women in top management roles (e.g., quotas and targets for women on boards) with the ultimate objective of enhancing diversity in the talent pool throughout the organization. This push for promoting more women in top management as a way to enhance gender-diverse talent pipeline at lower levels raises an important question: Does gender diversity in senior management roles promote progress of women at lower levels of the organization? We draw insights from and ground our arguments in the decoupling theory and test our cross-level hypotheses in a unique longitudinal dataset comprising 195 of the largest US based law firms . We support our theoretical argument using insights from 15 qualitative interviews. We find that an increase in the number of women in top management roles reduces the hiring prospects and increases attrition for women in junior ranks. We provide evidence that certain organizational practices reduce these paradoxical, cross-level decoupling effects of female representation in senior leadership positions.

Opening the “Black Box”. Factors Affecting Women’s Journey to Top Management Positions: A Framework Applied to Chile

The issue of women’s participation in top management and boardroom positions has received increasing attention in the academic literature and the press. However, the pace of advancement for women managers and directors continues to be slow and uneven. The novel framework of this study organizes the factors at the individual, organizational and public policy level that affect both career persistence and the advancement of women in top management positions; namely, factors affecting (1) career persistence (staying at the organization) and (2) career advancement or mobility (getting promoted within the organization). In the study location, Chile, only 32 percent of women “persist”, or have a career without interruptions, mainly due to issues with work–family integration and organizational environments with opaque and challenging working conditions. Women who “advanced” in their professional careers represent 30 percent of high management positions in the public sector and 18 percent in the private sector. Only 3 percent of general managers in Chile are women. Women in Chile have limited access and are still not integrated into business power networks. Our findings will enlighten business leaders and public policy-makers interested in designing organizations that retain and promote talented women in top positions.

“It’s a Man Who Runs the Show”: How Women Middle-Managers Experience Their Professional Position, Opportunities, and Barriers

The ratio of women in top-management positions is improving very slowly, even in countries scoring high on gender equality like Iceland. Despite over three decades of research having documented the...

The Impact of Role Models on Women's Self-Selection in Competitive Environments

We show that female role models increase women's willingness to compete. As in Niederle and Vesterlund (2007), we find that women are less willing to enter a tournament than men, although there are no gender differences in performance. However, the gender gap in tournament entry disappears if subjects are exposed to a competitive female role model. Results are stronger for the best performing women who seem to be particularly encouraged by female role models. Female role models also mitigate gender stereotype threats and lead to higher self-confidence among women. By contrast, we find that competitive male role models seem to intimidate female subjects and increase the gender gap in tournament entry even further. Our results have implications for the socio-political debate on how the fraction of women in top management positions can be increased.

...hvað segið þið strákar? Upplifun kvenmillistjórnenda af stöðu sinni, möguleikum og hindrunum í starfi

Hægt gengur að jafna stöðu kynjanna í efstu stjórnunarþrepum fyrirtækja á Íslandi. Í rannsókninni er sjónum beint að konum sem gegna stöðum millistjórnenda í stórum eða meðalstórum fyrirtækjum og eru því í hópi mögulegra yfirstjórnenda framtíðarinnar. Markmið rannsóknarinnar er að öðlast skilning á upplifun og reynslu kvennanna af stöðu sinni, hindrunum og möguleikum til starfsþróunar. Viðtöl við þær voru greind og túlkuð eftir aðferðum fyrirbærafræðinnar. Helstu niðurstöður benda til þess að flókinn vefur óáþreifanlegra hindrana sé til staðar í formi karllægrar menningar, viðhorfa, formgerða fyrirtækja sem og langlífra staðalímynda. Konurnar upplifa efsta stjórnunarlagið sem lokaða karlaklíku; yfirstjórnendastörfin sem sniðin að þörfum og aðstæðum karlmanna og að þær geti ekki bætt á sig frekari ábyrgð; vinnusemi og vandvirkni þeirra finnst þeim ekki metin að verðleikum og loks máta þær sig í hlutverk yfirstjórnandans og áfellast sjálfar sig fyrir að falla ekki að staðalímyndinni. Í sameiningu draga þessir þættir úr sjálfstrausti kvennanna og þrótti til að sækjast eftir hærri stöðum ásamt því að valda þeim álagi og um leið viðhalda raunverulegum vanda ójafnréttis kynjanna í æðstu stjórnendastöðum fyrirtækjanna.

Does female management influence firm performance? Evidence from Luxembourg banks

In this study, we examine the relationship between the proportion of women in top management positions at banks and these institutions’ financial performance. Using prudential data from supervisory reporting for all credit institutions in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg from 1999 to 2013, we find a positive association between female management and firm performance. The economic effect is substantial: a 10 % increase in women in top management positions improves the bank’s future return on equity by more than 3 % p.a. Moreover, we show that this positive relationship is (i) almost twice as large during the global financial crisis than in stable market conditions and (ii) non-linear, with banks having 20–40 % female management being the most successful.

Gender Aspects of Business Administration in Russia

The participation of women in business management in Russia has been the subject of research in recent decades, but has been limited to issues of access and motivation, and how these differ for men and women. What is missing, however, is studies on what the economic consequences are for Russian businesses that have women in top management positions.

Do Women Stay Out of Trouble? Evidence from Corporate Litigation

We use a unique hand-collected dataset on corporate lawsuits to examine the effect of female representation in top management on corporate litigation. We find that firms with higher representation of women in the top management team face fewer lawsuits overall, particularly lawsuits related to product liability, environment, medical liability, labor and contracts. These results continue to hold under several alternative specifications and accounting for endogeneity using a novel instrument. The results are driven by the presence of multiple women in top management positions and are likely due to gender diversity in top management rather than an artifact of tokenism. Among firms with higher litigation risk, greater representation of female executives positively impacts the value of cash holdings. Overall, our results uncover an important and previously unidentified benefit of gender diversity in top management.

Women managers and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Spain: Perceptions and drivers

Synopsis Companies' perceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) have been partially analysed based on top managers and mostly offer comparisons between men and women. According to our best knowledge, no study has focused on women managers and identified how their personal characteristics and values influence their perceptions of CSR. This paper analyses the differences in attitudes towards the different dimensions of CSR focusing on the viewpoint of women managers. Moreover, it measures how personal and professional backgrounds influence the perception of CSR. A total of 206 women in management positions were surveyed. The findings suggest that women in top management positions in Spain value the stakeholder orientation dimension more than they value other CSR dimensions. Furthermore, the results show that personal and professional backgrounds have a limited impact on women's perceptions of CSR. Finally, our results suggest that entrepreneurial women tend to have a better perception of CSR. Thus, several implications can be drawn for business management, and interesting directions for future research are provided.

Women in top management positions: the gender and salary gap issue

This study aims to identify and verify the presence of a gender gap in top management positions. This study try to figure out what the representation of women in positions of leadership, in Portugal, and figure out if the issue of leadership is a problem for passing intermediate management positions to top management positions. It also aims to identify and verify the presence of a wage gap between men and women occupying positions of top management. Trying to be innovate in the study of leadership, it has been developed an indicator that allows the measurement of the leadership competence of individuals in top management positions, to understand if the scarcity of women found in this positions is due to lower leadership skills. The results show that men and women, in top management positions, are similar in what concerns to leadership ability.

Does Female Management Influence Firm Performance? Evidence from Luxembourg Banks

In this study we examine the relationship between the proportion of women in top management positions at banks and these institutions' financial performance. Using prudential data from supervisory reporting for all credit institutions in the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg from 1999 to 2013, we find a positive association between female management and firm performance. The economic effect is substantial: a 10% increase in women in top management positions improves the bank's future return on equity by more than 3% p.a. Moreover, we show that this positive relationship is (i) almost twice as large during the global financial crisis than in stable market conditions and (ii) non-linear, with banks having 20%-40% female management being the most successful.