The power of board size and gender diversity on the value of companies listed on emerging markets

Abstract

The main aim of this empirical paper is to examine the impact of board size and gender diversity on the firm value of 354 non-financial firms listed on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The vital importance of this paper is to shed light on the presence of female directors on the boards of directors in the GCC. This empirical paper applied several estimation techniques such as ordinary least squares (OLS) and panel regression (fixed & random effect) on a dataset that is extracted from the Refinitiv Eikon platform for the period 2010–2022. This investigation controlled for firm age, firm size, profitability, and leverage in the model developed. The significant result of the Hausman test approved the results of the fixed effect model which reveals that gender diversity, firm size, profitability, leverage, and board size significantly positively impact the firm value, unlike the firm age which appeared to be statistically insignificant. The results imply that the larger the board size and the higher the presence of women on the boards of directors in the GCC region, the better the profitability. This indeed recommends the decision takers include more members especially women in the decision-making process.