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http://dx.doi.org/10.13106/jafeb.2022.vol9.no3.0365

Board Gender Diversity and Firm Financial Performance Dispersion: Evidence from the Middle East  

HABASH, Nojoud (Business Administration, and Marketing Department, College of Business and Economy, Birzeit University)
ABUZAROUR, Bashar (Digital Financial Services and Innovations Directorate, Palestine Capital Market Authority)
Publication Information
The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business / v.9, no.3, 2022 , pp. 365-375 More about this Journal
Abstract
This study examines the relationship between board gender diversity and financial performance. The annual data of Palestinian nonfinancial listed enterprises from 2015 to 2019 was analyzed using a longitudinal panel analysis for the study's purposes. When conditional mean regression methodologies were used in the study, the results indicate that there is an insignificant relation between board gender diversity and firm financial performance. However, when analyzing women directors' effect on a firm's financial performance, endogeneity is always a concern, therefore, we test for endogeneity by employing the Darbin-Wu Housman test and then by using 2SLS. Nevertheless, when looking at the dispersion of a firm's performance using quantile regression, the results show that having women on the board improves financial performance slightly, especially for high-financial-performing firms. The findings indicate that there is a legal significant gap hindering the protection of gender diversity in boardrooms, and limiting the existence and representation of women in leadership positions, specifically, board of directors. The results of this study contribute to corporate governance and business culture literature by shedding the light on the importance of board gender diversity, to improve the firm financial performance, and hence, protect the interests of all shareholders' categories.
Keywords
Middle East; Women on Board; Financial Performance; Quantile Regression; Palestinian Listed Firms;
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Times Cited By KSCI : 6  (Citation Analysis)
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