Female board representation and corporate performance: an Australian perspective

Abstract

This thesis contributes to the extensive literature on female board representation and corporate performance. It comprises three papers that present new research on this topic, primarily in an Australian context.

In Chapter 2, I provide a thorough overview of the current state of knowledge, detailing a diverse array of methodologies and findings, and emphasising the endogeneity issues that plague the literature. I demonstrate that, despite many claims to the contrary in the popular press, there is no genuine consensus in the literature that women's presence or appointment as corporate directors either positively or negatively influences firms' financial performance.

In Chapter 3, I generate a new dataset from records of female appointments to non-executive directorships at companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. I use this dataset to perform an event study examining the effect of these announcements on share price, and implement a range of parametric and non-parametric tests. The results fail to provide consistent evidence of a general effect; they also suggest no such effect is present for large firms specifically.

In Chapter 4, I use Australian data to replicate, then extend two significant studies examining the link between women's presence on boards and a range of accounting and market-based measures of financial performance. I also briefly examine gendered differences in board members' remuneration and attendance. The results differ substantially according to a range of methodological choices (e.g. controls, modelling technique and sample group), but generally do not support the conclusion that female board representation affects financial performance. Show more