Exploring the Influence of Female Presence and Leadership on Boards of Directors

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims at contributing new insights regarding the growing presence of women in top management seats, namely boards of directors and key management positions. The Financial Reporting Council considers that having a diversity of personal attributes, psychological types, backgrounds, and gender on boards of directors is important to ensure that they are not comprised of like-minded individuals and that directors have the intellectual capacity to propose strategy. Academic research has shown that a female presence in top management positions positively affects firms’ financial results, corporate social responsibility as well as financial and non-financial reporting and disclosures. However, despite the growing literature on the gender issue, most studies have been conducted in a context of a minority of women on boards. Progress has been made during the last few years, with an increasing number of women on boards, but gender diversity at other corporate levels still requires significant improvements.

This Special Issue encourages academics to study the gender diversity issue, considering the challenging context of the increased, but still insufficient, female presence on boards by introducing new perspectives of analysis on this topic. How is new legislation affecting gender diversity on boards and other top management positions? How effective are new recommendations on codes of corporate governance for promoting gender diversity? What type of corporate, organizational, and/or other factors influence gender diversity? Is gender diversity promoted across the whole organization or just on boards? Are women equally reaching all board seats (i.e., executive directorships, CEOs, and Chairs)? Do women occupy seats on key corporate committees, such as the audit committee or the nomination and remuneration committee, in equal terms compared to men? What is the effect on financial results and on social and environmental performance by having a significant number of women on boards and/or on key committees? Do women on boards promote corporate innovation? Do women on boards enhance financial and non-financial disclosures? Original contributions in governance and management are encouraged by including methods, tools, and practices aligned with the contemporary necessity to promote gender diversity on boards, top management positions, and across all organizational levels.

Dr. Javier Garcia-Lacalle
Guest Editor

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• corporate governance
• boards of directors
• gender
• corporate social responsibility
• financial results
• financial and non-financial reporting