Board gender diversity and its effect on Capital Structure – A comparison between the Financial and Non-Financial sector
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2019-08-19
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en
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While the majority of the financial literature indicates a negative relationship between gender board diversity and capital structure, some disagreements still persist. Furthermore, some studies suggest that this effect might be mitigated when we look at female directors in a financial setting. This paper thus investigates this suspicion by adopting a new panel data set which includes firms from both the financial and non-financial sector, covering a timeframe of 2000 until 2018. While the results reveal a negative tendency between gender diversity and capital structure, the unique timeframe of this study allows for the inclusion of a financial crisis effect, which greatly reduces the statistical significance of the negative correlation found. Additionally, this paper finds that the effect of gender diversity on capital structure is actually larger and more significant for financial firms relative to non-financial firms. While this study provides some evidence for the negative effect of board gender diversity on capital structure, further research on the topic is required.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen