Do Women in Top Management Affect Firm Performance? A Panel Study of 2500 Danish Firms

By Nina Smith, V. Smith, M. Verner. Social Science Research Network, 2006

1,094 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Corporate governance literature argues that board diversity is potentially positively related to firm performance. This study examines the relationship in the case of women in top executive jobs and on boards of directors. We use data for the 2500 largest Danish firms observed during the period 1993-2001 and find that the proportion of women in top management jobs tends to have positive effects on firm performance, even after controlling for numerous characteristics of the firm and direction of causality. The results show that the positive effects of women in top management depend on the qualifications of female top managers.

Subfields: Accounting, Gender Studies

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/7b8c7675bb14882fde104a1c2fbc459540764ebc

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Citations in the corpus

Gender Diversity in the Boardroom and Firm Financial Performance (2008, background): “A more gender diverse board may also improve a firm’s competitive advantage if it improves the image of the firm and if this has a positive effect on customers’ behaviour and thus on a firm’s performance (Smith et al., 2006).”
Board gender diversity and firm performance: The UK evidence (2020, background): “The findings appear consistent with the results of Smith et al. (2006), Singh et al. (2008), Cheng, Chan, and Leung (2010), and Darmadi (2013) who found firm performance increases when female directors' appointed to the board have higher level of education such as Masters in Business Administration…”
Gender diversity and firm performance: evidence from Dutch and Danish boardrooms (2016, background): “Smith et al. (2006) add that a more diverse board may generate a better public image of the firm and, through this, improve firm performance.”
Female directors, board committees and firm performance (2018, neutral): “The association between board gender diversity and performance may vary with the choice of firm performance measure (Erhardt, et al. 2003; Smith et al. 2006).”
Board Characteristics and Firm Performance: Evidence from New Zealand (2011, background): “Consistent with the notion that gender diversity will add value to the firm, recent studies have found a significant positive relationship between presence of women and firm performance (Carter et al., 2003; Bonn, 2004; Smith et al., 2006).”
Legislating a Woman’s Seat on the Board: Institutional Factors Driving Gender Quotas for Boards of Directors (2014, neutral): “…board model (e.g., AngloAmerican), number of board tiers, role of scandals, prior history of reforms; and possible extensions to other organizational types (e.g., small and medium-sized and new companies which traditionally have disparate levels of female representation) (Smith et al. 2006).”
Female board appointments and firm valuation: short and long-term effects (2010, background): “Finally, the studies of Watson et al. (1993), Shrader et al. (1997), Du Rietz and Henrekson (2000), Richard (2000), Farrell and Hersch (2005), Randoy et al. (2006), Smith et al. (2006) and Rose (2007) are inconclusive on the issue.”