Why and when female directors are less engaged in their board duties: An interface perspective

Weck, Michelle; Veltrop, Dennis; Oehmichen, Jana; Rink, Floor

doi:10.1016/j.lrp.2021.102123

Cited by 33 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 112 publications

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“…For example, in their study of board turnover, Acharya and Pollock (in press) find that status hierarchies within and beyond the board of directors influence a particular board member’s likelihood to exit. In a study of female director engagement, Weck and colleagues (2021) use status characteristic theory to argue that although female directors have lower group status compared to their male counterparts, the presence of a female chair can elevate the status of other female directors.…”

Section: Theory and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Third, underrepresented directors with achieved status may create a climate in which underrepresented directors without achieved status feel comfortable participating in board meetings not only by participating more themselves but also by guiding board discussions toward issues to which other underrepresented directors have expertise (Weck et al, 2021). This manner of directing topics draws out greater levels of participation from underrepresented directors without achieved status.…”

Section: Theory and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, for these benefits to be realized, not only do underrepresented groups need to occupy seats at the board table, but they must also be active participants in board meetings. Thus, we follow recent theorizing (Acharya and Pollock (in press; Sidhu et al, 2020; Weck et al, 2021) that departs from quantifying the number of seats underrepresented directors hold. Instead, we focus on the participation of underrepresented individuals in boardroom discussions.…”

Section: Theory and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, recent research challenges scholars to move beyond the assumption that the number of seats that underrepresented directors hold is equivalent to commensurate participation in board discussions. Instead, there are increasing calls to understand the barriers to underrepresented individuals’ participation in critical discussions and tasks (Acharya and Pollock (in press; Sidhu et al, 2020; Weck et al, 2021). For instance, research clearly indicates that individual demographic differences affect important aspects of group interaction (Skvoretz and Fararo, 1996; Webster and Foschi, 1988) and can often lead to outgroup marginalization and decreased participation (Karakowsky and McBey, 2004; Sidhu et al, 2020; Wagner and Berger, 1997; Webber and Donahue, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

From Seats at the Table to Voices in the Discussion: Antecedents of Underrepresented Director Participation in Board Meetings

Tuggle

Sirmon

Borgholthaus

et al. 2021

J Management Studies

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A corporate board's work is largely dependent on the collective contributions of individual directors. Thus, greater board diversity, with its commensurate knowledge complementarity, should stimulate better board discussions when members actively participate. Without the participation of underrepresented directors, however, the potential benefits of board diversity are lost. Herein we examine the drivers of underrepresented directors' participation in board meetings. Departing from prior studies that often used a single-level, compositional view of board diversity, we explore the antecedents of individual underrepresented director participation with a multi-level, multi-theoretic model. We find strong empirical support for our model, derived from detailed board of director meeting transcripts, offering several theoretical contributions to the literature.

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Section: Theory and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theory and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theory and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

From Seats at the Table to Voices in the Discussion: Antecedents of Underrepresented Director Participation in Board Meetings

Tuggle

Sirmon

Borgholthaus

et al. 2021

J Management Studies

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show abstract

“…In this paper we respond to the aforementioned call and explore whether board diversity in terms of both gender and nationality constitutes a strategic option SMEs can pursue and actively This question is of importance because it is the visible aspects of demographic groups that define the natural fault lines upon which decisions are made (Hafsi and Turgut, 2012;Jack and Lorbiecki, 2007;Tatli, 2011), expectations set (Weck et al, 2022) and abilities (mis)judged (Bordalo et al, 2019;Marlow and McAdam, 2013). As a result, managers see diversity as progressive, but have little understanding of how to put the concept into practice and benefit from inclusivity (Singh and Point, 2004;Tatli, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Board diversity as strategic choice and why it should matter to SMEs

Puntaier

Zhu²,

Hughes³

2022

IJEBR

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PurposeDiversity in boards has gained attention as a reflection of societal imbalances. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of diversity in terms of both gender and nationality in management boards of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on firm performance from an upper echelons perspective. The authors also examine how board-specific characteristics influence the structural makeup of boards in gender and nationality diversity terms.Design/methodology/approachThe authors focus on the UK because of its individualistic society and flexible labour market and assess 309 SMEs in the manufacturing industry over 2009–2019. A 3-stage least squares (3SLS) estimator is used to analyse the data, the Shannon index to measure board diversity, return on assets as proxy for firm performance, and owner-manager presence, board member age and tenure are the board-specific characteristics of primary interest.FindingsBoth gender and nationality diversity contribute to firm performance and represent distinct upper echelon characteristics that change the cognitive and psychological dynamics of boards. Firms with larger boards do not perform better, but diverse boards reduce the narrowing view of CEOs. Yet the presence of owner-managers, despite their performance-enhancing contribution, holds firms back from benefitting from diversity as a strategic choice.Originality/valueThis study extends the upper echelons theory to include board diversity as an important aspect that should become more central in upper echelon thinking when understanding firm performance. The authors’ findings suggest that theoretical developments in search of understanding firm behaviour must proceed by accounting for diversity and not simply focusing on decision-making styles.

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Gender and racial minorities on corporate boards: How board faultlines and CEO‐minority director overlap affect firm performance

Mendiratta,

Tasheva

2024

Strategic Management Journal

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Research SummaryIn this article, we examine the multidimensional and multilevel nature of diversity in the context of corporate boards. Using the concept of faultlines, we argue that when gender and racial background aligns with human capital attributes of board members, faultlines may be formed with negative implications for firm performance. However, the potential negative impact of faultlines can be alleviated by overlaps in the characteristics of the CEO and minority directors. Specifically, we find that higher overlaps in tenure and personal range of functional experiences help overcome some of the disadvantages that minority directors face and moderate the relationship between board faultline strength and firm performance. Empirical tests using 14 years data on 262 firms belonging to S&P500 index largely support our theoretical ideas.Managerial SummaryBoards often suffer from unhealthy team dynamics. In this article, we explore how alignment of board members' attributes may lead to potential subgroup formation within boards. Specifically, we examine how, under existing pressures to increase demographic diversity on corporate boards, alignment of human capital characteristics with gender and racial minority status may lead to the formation of board faultlines that negatively influence firm performance. Our results suggest that the CEO plays a pivotal role in overcoming negative consequences of board faultlines by utilizing shared tenure on board and common functional experiences with minority board members. Our research suggests that board selection needs to focus beyond scrutinizing individual‐level human capital and instead understand alignments of directors' profiles that enable optimal board functioning.

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Why and when female directors are less engaged in their board duties: An interface perspective

Cited by 33 publications

References 112 publications

From Seats at the Table to Voices in the Discussion: Antecedents of Underrepresented Director Participation in Board Meetings

From Seats at the Table to Voices in the Discussion: Antecedents of Underrepresented Director Participation in Board Meetings

Board diversity as strategic choice and why it should matter to SMEs

Gender and racial minorities on corporate boards: How board faultlines and CEO‐minority director overlap affect firm performance

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