Women Do it Better: An Investigation on the Association between Gender Diversity In Board of Directors and the Financial Performance

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyse the impact of gender diversity on the financial performance of Italian listed companies. A cross-sectional regression used about the data of the year 2016 of Italian listed firms. The study is a mix of descriptive and explanatory research. The model is a scoring model, composed by two variables: Board of Directors (BoD), and Top Management (TM). We investigate the impact of these variables on the Return on Equity, the Price book value, and the EBITDA. The study shows a positive relationship between financial performance and the composition of the BoD and the operational performance and the composition of the Top management. The cross sectional regression highlights also the non-relation on the Return on Equity. Anyway these contrasting results confirm the properness of the model for this kind of research. Keywords: Gender Diversity, Financial Perfomance, Borad of Directors, Italian Listed Companies JEL Classifications: G32, M14, G30