Women in business leadership and firm performance: a cross-country study
type: CreativeWork
description: This study investigates the relationship between female board and top management representation and corporate financial performance (measured i.t.o. ROA), and market sentiment (measured i.t.o. Tobin's Q). Three Western nations (the U.S., the U.K. and Germany) and two Asian countries (China and Japan), are considered, specifically with the aim of understanding the nature and extent of the relationship in each region individually, andany potential differences under different cultural environments. The study period was 2014- 2019 for the board representation analysis and, due to data constraints, only 2019 for the top management analysis. Random effects panel regression was used in the board level analysis and a multiple regression model was used to study the top management level impact. The results indicate a positive relationship between the performance measures and female representation at both the board and top management levels. However, the relationship is not statistically significant in the case of the board level analysis, but generally statistically significant for the top management analysis. The strength of the mostly positive relationships between female representation and the performance measures is generally stronger for the three Western countries (particularly for the US and the UK) compared to the two Asian countries, which could in part be due to the impact of cultural differences between them.
abstract: This study investigates the relationship between female board and top management representation and corporate financial performance (measured i.t.o. ROA), and market sentiment (measured i.t.o. Tobin's Q). Three Western nations (the U.S., the U.K. and Germany) and two Asian countries (China and Japan), are considered, specifically with the aim of understanding the nature and extent of the relationship in each region individually, andany potential differences under different cultural environments. The study period was 2014- 2019 for the board representation analysis and, due to data constraints, only 2019 for the top management analysis. Random effects panel regression was used in the board level analysis and a multiple regression model was used to study the top management level impact. The results indicate a positive relationship between the performance measures and female representation at both the board and top management levels. However, the relationship is not statistically significant in the case of the board level analysis, but generally statistically significant for the top management analysis. The strength of the mostly positive relationships between female representation and the performance measures is generally stronger for the three Western countries (particularly for the US and the UK) compared to the two Asian countries, which could in part be due to the impact of cultural differences between them.
author: Luo, Jing Ying
keywords: finance and tax
date published: 2021
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:02Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Department of Finance and Tax

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/33766