Are women the superheroes of the corporate world?

• Autor(a) principal: Kanzari, Meriem
• Data de Publicação: 2016
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/21075
• topic: Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Economia e Gestão

Are women the superheroes of the corporate world? The increasing number of women directors coupled with the various policies and quotas in favor of boards’ gender diversity have given rise to extensive research on women directorship. This study investigates the impact of boards’ gender diversity on firm performance and firm risk. Relying on 136 FTSE100 companies and 11 years of data, this study finds evidence that gender diversity enhances corporate outcomes. Gender diversity within the executive directors’ team is associated with an increase in corporate performance and a decrease in corporate risk. However, no impact had been identified regarding gender diversity within the non-executive board of directors. The results convey the benefits of women participation in the executive suite and demonstrate the positive impact of boards’ gender diversity on corporate outcomes. As such, this study highlights women leadership potential that is being hindered by gender stereotypes.