Does board gender diversity influence firm financial performance? Evidence from French SMEs

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The issue of board gender diversity has attracted the interest of researchers as well as poli-cymakers in recent years. Despite extensive literature examining the relationship between board gender diversity and firm financial performance, the evidence is mixed and based ex-tensively on large firms. This study reassesses this issue by analysing a sample of French small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) over the period 2009-2014. We empirically controlled the direction and significance of this relationship by using panel data and the two-stage least squares (2SLS) method. In contrast to existing studies, in our work among French SMEs, we do not find a significant relationship between board gender diversity and firm financial performance. This study aims to shed light on the business case for board gender diversity.

Author(s):

Rey Dang A.    
ICN Business School, Nancy-Metz - CEREFIGE
France

Christine Naschberger    
Audencia Business School
France

L’Hocine Houanti    
La Rochelle Business School
France

Nhu Tuyên Lê    
Grenoble École de Management
France