Gender Diversity and Firm Performance: Evidence from Dutch and Danish Boardrooms

Research output: Working paperAcademic

Abstract

Drawing on the business case for gender diversity, this article examines whether board gender diversity has a positive effect on firm performance, based on evidence from the Netherlands and Denmark. We use empirical data on 186 listed firms observed in 2007, of which 102 Dutch and 84 Danish. Of these firms, almost 40% have at least one woman in the boardroom. Within boards the average share of women is only 5.4%. In order to investigate the impact of board gender diversity on firm performance, two-stage least-squares estimation is applied, using Tobin’s Q as a measure of performance. Our findings indicate that there is no effect of board gender diversity on firm performance. This implies that the business case for board gender diversity is not supported for this particular sample. Our finding seems in line with most European research.
Original languageEnglish
PublisherUU USE Tjalling C. Koopmans Research Institute
Number of pages28
Publication statusPublished - 2010

Publication series

NameDiscussion Paper Series / Tjalling C. Koopmans Research Institute
No.03
Volume10
ISSN (Electronic)2666-8238

Keywords

  • Corporate governance
  • firm performance
  • board diversity
  • female board representation

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