The under-representation of women on boards is a heavily discussed topic—not only in Germany. Based on critical mass theory and with the help of a hand-collected panel dataset of 151 listed German firms for the years 2000–2005, we explore whether the link between gender diversity and firm performance follows a U-shape. Controlling for reversed causality, we find evidence for gender diversity to at first negatively affect firm performance and—only after a “critical mass” of about 30 % women has been reached—to be associated with higher firm performance than completely male boards. Given our sample firms, the critical mass of 30 % women translates into an absolute number of about three women on the board and hence supports recent studies on a corresponding “magic number” of women in the boardroom.
%0 Journal Article
%1 joecks2012gender
%A Joecks, Jasmin
%A Pull, Kerstin
%A Vetter, Karin
%D 2012
%I Springer Netherlands
%J Journal of Business Ethics
%K board board-level_employee_representation diversity gender performance supervisory_board
%P 1-12
%R 10.1007/s10551-012-1553-6
%T Gender Diversity in the Boardroom and Firm Performance: What Exactly Constitutes a “Critical Mass?”
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1553-6
%X The under-representation of women on boards is a heavily discussed topic—not only in Germany. Based on critical mass theory and with the help of a hand-collected panel dataset of 151 listed German firms for the years 2000–2005, we explore whether the link between gender diversity and firm performance follows a U-shape. Controlling for reversed causality, we find evidence for gender diversity to at first negatively affect firm performance and—only after a “critical mass” of about 30 % women has been reached—to be associated with higher firm performance than completely male boards. Given our sample firms, the critical mass of 30 % women translates into an absolute number of about three women on the board and hence supports recent studies on a corresponding “magic number” of women in the boardroom.
@article{joecks2012gender,
abstract = {The under-representation of women on boards is a heavily discussed topic—not only in Germany. Based on critical mass theory and with the help of a hand-collected panel dataset of 151 listed German firms for the years 2000–2005, we explore whether the link between gender diversity and firm performance follows a U-shape. Controlling for reversed causality, we find evidence for gender diversity to at first negatively affect firm performance and—only after a “critical mass” of about 30 % women has been reached—to be associated with higher firm performance than completely male boards. Given our sample firms, the critical mass of 30 % women translates into an absolute number of about three women on the board and hence supports recent studies on a corresponding “magic number” of women in the boardroom.},
added-at = {2012-12-19T16:16:29.000+0100},
author = {Joecks, Jasmin and Pull, Kerstin and Vetter, Karin},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2d1cdc38956dd378be535b4df0cd60874/meneteqel},
doi = {10.1007/s10551-012-1553-6},
interhash = {d4731e7c19281d60d8dc28e4c69579e6},
intrahash = {d1cdc38956dd378be535b4df0cd60874},
issn = {0167-4544},
journal = {Journal of Business Ethics},
keywords = {board board-level_employee_representation diversity gender performance supervisory_board},
language = {English},
pages = {1-12},
publisher = {Springer Netherlands},
timestamp = {2012-12-19T16:16:29.000+0100},
title = {Gender Diversity in the Boardroom and Firm Performance: What Exactly Constitutes a “Critical Mass?”},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1553-6},
year = 2012
}