Although non-profit organisations typically have high representation of females on their boards, relatively little is known about the effects of gender diversity in these organisations particularly in relation to financial management. In this archival study, resource dependency theory and agency analysis are combined to provide theoretical insight and empirical analysis of gender diversity on effective financial management in member-governed, community financial institutions. The investigation is possible due to the unique characteristics of the organisational form and region being examined-credit unions in Northern Ireland. The sector has not been subject to external regulation on board gender, yet a wide array of gender mix on boards ranging from 100 % male to 100 % female are in existence. In addition, effective financial management is crucial to their survival and their ability to meet member objectives. Boards with higher female representation exhibit superior financial management first, in respect of loan book quality in the period of austerity following the financial crisis and second when measured against return on assets.
Abstract**: The unique characteristics of credit unions reduces the information asymmetry that is prevalent in credit making decisions, enabling them to provide loans where other financial institutions cannot. This makes them a potential tool in the fight against financial exclusion. Yet, the UK credit union movement is not regarded as being successful, even though there is evidence of much financial exclusion. This study is cross sectional in form, and evaluates characteristics that may contribute to the success of the UK credit union movement at national and regional level, in 2000. The findings are used to consider the impact of recent regulatory changes on the movement. The key findings are that there is a significant relationship between the success of a credit union, its size and the deprivation of the ward from which it sources its members. More specifically, larger credit unions and those located in more affluent wards, are more successful. Affiliation to the Irish League of Credit Unions and having a common bond of occupation, are also found to be contributing factors to credit union success. These results are taken as providing support for the recent changes implemented by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), which is likely to result in the emergence of larger credit unions (through mergers), run by appropriately qualified persons, serving a more mixed‐income membership base. It is, however, noted that the history of the UK movement is one of missed opportunities and only time will tell whether credit unions have the wherewithal to accept current opportunities.
Understanding factors that cause students problems throughout their doctoral education is of benefit to doctoral educators striving to improve doctoral completion rates. In this paper, Baker and Pifer's (2015, "Antecedents and Outcomes: Theories of Fit and the Study of Doctoral Education." Studies in Higher Education 40 (2): 296-310.) multidimensional framework of student-doctoral fit is extended to create a more nuanced framework comprising student-doctoral environment fit (including the sub-dimensions: student-organisation fit, student-private environment fit and student-people fit), student-vocation fit (including the sub-dimensions: student-motivation fit and student-learning environment fit) and student-doctoral culture fit (including the subdimensions: student-learning identity fit, student-(academic)writing fit and student-personal characteristics fit). We then operationalise the framework to create a doctoral student education fit analytical framework for providing insights on the association between fit and doctoral student performance. Our analytical model provides a springboard for fieldwork to examine student-doctoral education fit and doctoral student performance.
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