Publication Date

10-31-2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in International Business Administration (Ph.D.-IB)

Committee Chair

Shankar, Siddharth

Abstract

Recently, there has been significant debate on the leadership role of women. This dissertation supplements this discussion by revisiting the impact of gender diversity on firms and investors. The first chapter tests the relationship between board gender diversity and bondholders. Using data from US corporate bonds, I examine the impact of board gender diversity on bond terms and bondholders’ returns. I find that firms with gender-diverse boards have better bonds terms. They have lower yields, higher ratings, larger issue size, and shorter maturity. I also find that bondholders require fewer returns from firms with gender-diverse boards. However, the effect is more pronounced when at least 29.67% of the firm's board of directors is women. This paper supplements the findings that board gender diversity is essential for bondholders. The second chapter investigates the relationship between institutional investors and abnormal accruals and tests the moderating effect of board gender diversity on this relationship. I find that board gender diversity and independent institutional investors with long-term investment and concentrated ownership (ILTIS) increase earning quality. In fact, I find a significant negative relationship between board gender diversity and abnormal accruals. I also find a negative and significant relationship between independent institutional investors with long-term investment and concentrated ownership (ILTIS) and abnormal accruals. However, when I include the interactions between these strong governance mechanisms, there is a decrease in earnings quality. This result shows that the association of a gender diverse board with independent institutional investors with long-term investment and concentrated ownership (ILTIS) leads to overmonitoring, which leads to a reduction in the earnings quality. The third chapter tests the impact of gender diversity on socially conscious investors. I test if value-prone investors are also affected by gender stereotyping. I find that socially conscious investors invest less in socially conscious mutual funds with a gender-diverse management team. The reluctance of socially conscious investors to invest in these funds is not due to poor performance but to the reluctance to apply some of the social values, such as diversity and equal employment diversity.

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