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All on board? New evidence on board gender diversity from a large panel of European firms

Author

Listed:
  • Joanna Tyrowicz

    (Institute for Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the European Union (IAAEU), Trier University)

  • Siri Terjesen

    (Florida Atlantic University)

  • Jakub Mazurek

    (FAME|GRAPE)

Abstract
Using a unique database of over 20 million firms over two decades, we examine industry sector and national institution drivers of the prevalence of women directors on supervisory and management boards in both public and private firms across 41 advanced and emerging European economies. We demonstrate that gender board diversity has generally increased, yet women remain rare in both boards of firms in Europe: approximately 70% have no women directors on their supervisory boards, and 60% have no women directors on management boards. We leverage institutional and resource dependency theoretical frameworks to demonstrate that few systematic factors are associated with greater gender diversity for both supervisory and management boards among both private and public firms: the same factor may exhibit a positive correlation to a management board, and a negative correlation to a supervisory board, or vice versa. We interpret these findings as evidence that country-level gender equality and cultural institutions exhibit differentiated correlations with the presence of women directors in management and supervisory boards. We also find little evidence that sector-level competition and innovativeness are systematically associated with the presence of women on either board in either group of firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Joanna Tyrowicz & Siri Terjesen & Jakub Mazurek, 2019. "All on board? New evidence on board gender diversity from a large panel of European firms," IAAEU Discussion Papers 201904, Institute of Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the European Union (IAAEU).
    • Handle: RePEc:iaa:dpaper:201904
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Saleh F. A. Khatib & Dewi Fariha Abdullah & Ahmed A. Elamer & Raed Abueid, 2021. "Nudging toward diversity in the boardroom: A systematic literature review of board diversity of financial institutions," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 985-1002, February.
    5. López-Cabarcos, M. Ángeles & Vizcaíno-González, Marcos & López-Pérez, M. Luisa, 2023. "Gender diversity on boards: Determinants that underlie the proposals for female directors," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
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    9. Zeineb Ouni & Jamal Ben Mansour & Sana Arfaoui, 2022. "Corporate Governance and Financial Performance: The Interplay of Board Gender Diversity and Intellectual Capital," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-22, November.
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    15. García-Sánchez, Isabel-María & Aibar-Guzmán, Cristina & Núñez-Torrado, Miriam & Aibar-Guzmán, Beatriz, 2023. "Women leaders and female same-sex groups: The same 2030 Agenda objectives along different roads," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    : female directors; glass ceiling; gender board diversity; institutional theory; resource dependency theory;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J7 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination
    • P5 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems

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