Оценка влияния гендерного состава совета директоров на финансовые показатели компаний из FTSE 100 / The impact of the gender composition of the board of directors on the financial performance of FTSE 100 companies

Бычкова Марина Александровна

Аннотация


When it comes to corporate governance, the board of directors is one of the most significant topics. Because it is self-evident that the board of directors' activities have a direct impact on the company's efficiency, researchers from all over the world have been working for years to establish circumstances in which the board of directors may be as successful as possible. During the popularity of gender equality research, the gender composition of the board of directors was highlighted as a possible success element. However, it is unclear if the gender of the directors would have a major impact on the company's success, or if the reviewed industry will affect female representation.
This research examines the influence that the gender characteristics of the members of the board of the directors have on the financial performance of the firm, which is expressed through the return on assets, and whether such influence will take place at all. The tasks which were set during the preparations and further work, were to develop and to suggest the hypotheses about the selected topic, based on the reviewed set of previous studies, to assess the impact of the demographical characteristics of the board of the directors on the financial performance of the firm, to study whether there are other factors, such as the industry, which might have any significant effect on the research, to interpret the obtained results and the reasons which might stand behind them, and to provide a set of recommendations for further implementation of gender diversity. The object of the research is the set of variables and corporate governance characteristics which are believed to have an impact on the financial performance of the company, such as the board size and average board tenure, the shares of independent and non-executive directors on the board, the cultural and gender diversity of the board and the number of employees. The subject of the research is the relationship between these characteristics and the financial performance of the firms, which is expressed through the return on assets.
In order to assess the relationship between gender diversity on the board and the financial performance, the econometric analysis of panel data was chosen as the main methodological tool. Econometric part of the research was conducted in Stata. The main sources which were used for gathering information and data were electronic libraries ScienceDirect and JSTOR, and Google Scholar. The data for the econometric study was collected from annual reports and the official websites of the respective companies for the time period from 2004 to 2021. The dataset, which was used in the research, is a strongly balanced panel of 35 of the FTSE 100 companies.
By conducting complex analysis, this study provides a set of helpful recommendations which may help the companies to not only improve their gender diversity, but also to use gender diversity as a strategic tool to improve governance.