Calling out the laggards: shareholder activism and board gender diversity

Abstract

Purpose While the presence of women in the boardroom has been steadily increasing, shareholders have taken action to push firms which lag in this area to add women to their boards. The purpose of this study is to examine whether firms with more gender homogenous (i.e. male-dominated) boards are disproportionately targeted with shareholder proposals calling for increased board gender diversity, how gender diversity among other firm leadership moderates this relationship, and whether firms respond. Design/methodology/approach Firth logistic regression is used to analyze the rare occurrence of a shareholder proposal within a sample of 7,226 firm year observations from S&P 1,500 firms in the USA between 2010 and 2017. Ordinary least squares regression is used to examine the subsequent three-year change in board gender diversity using a sample of 3,917 firm year observations. Findings The empirical findings indicate that firms with gender homogenous boards are more likely to incur shareholder proposals aimed at increasing board gender diversity. Having women in leadership positions (e.g. as the Chief Executive Officer) weakens this relationship. Finally, despite most proposals failing to pass, board gender diversity dramatically increases following the rendering of a proposal. Originality/value This study adds to the understanding of the principal-agent relationship, offering novel insights into shareholder responses to the lack of gender diversity among the board and firm responses to such activism. Furthermore, the authors add to the understanding of expectation violations with regard to gender diversity within firm boards. Finally, the authors find that women in other leadership positions insulate the firm from such shareholder activism – an important boundary condition of the findings.