Purpose This study aims to investigate the impact of the presence of women directors on firm’s risk-taking behavior in industries where innovation is pivotal and how this impact varies across ownership structure. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 71 listed technology firms on the National Stock Exchange of India for the period of 2008 to 2013 was used. Generalized method of moment estimation technique was used for data analysis. Findings Results reveal a positive impact of the presence of women directors on technology firms’ risk-taking behavior measured in terms of R&D spending, which is in contrast to the traditional notion that women are risk-averse. Further, results also reveal that family ownership negatively affects the impact of the presence of women directors on risk taking in technology firms. Practical implications The findings of the study suggest that females are risk takers in the context of R&D-intensive technology firms, thus providing new insight for policymakers to formulate more effective board gender diversity policies. Originality/value Based on the integration of agency and behavioral theories, it is suggested that female executives may be risk-averse or risk-takers depending on contextual factors such as innovation and ownership, which drive the impact of the presence of women directors on firms’ risk-taking behavior.

This article examines the effect of board gender diversity on firm risk‐taking level. Drawing on the contingency framework, we contend that the influence of women executives on firm risk‐taking depends largely on the organizational context of the firm such as the industry in which it operates. To investigate this proposition, we compare the influence of board gender diversity on firm risk‐taking level in Indian high‐tech and in non‐high‐tech sectors. Our findings indicate that female executives operating in high‐tech sectors take more risk than their counterparts female executives who operate in non‐high sector. Interestingly, our analysis also reveals that family ownership negatively moderates the impact of female executives on risk‐taking in high‐tech firms. In additional analysis, we find that female executives exert a positive impact on firm performance only in high‐tech sector. This suggests that the influence of female executives on firm outcomes is not always straightforward.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract