Women on the board and the ethical behaviour: The case of Latin American listed companies

Abstract

Ethical issues such as social inclusion and gender equality are among the most relevant global challenges and have attracted the attention in the academic literature. Within the literature on board composition, one of the recent and emerging issues, which have been rapidly gaining attention from both academics and practitioners, is the board diversity (Catanzariti & Lo, 2011). Gender diversity on the board has shown advantages from economic and ethical dimensions. This study contributes to the debate on gender equality on top positions and its effect on ethical behaviour. Differently from other studies, was included in the study three variables that reflect the ethical dimension: 1) corporate governance compliance, 2) ethical corporate values, and 3) stakeholder strategy orientation. This study has practical implications for policymakers, companies and boards since findings show that firms with women on their boards tend to be more ethically responsible, suggesting the necessity to increase their representation on the private sector