Board diversity and structure: What implications for investments in innovation? Empirical evidence from Italian context

Martini, S Bianchi; Corvino, A; Rigolini, Alessandra

doi:10.22495/cocv10i1art1

Cited by 27 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…The empirical studies that have studied the link between gender diversity and innovation in general are scare and provide inconclusive results. Some authors claimed that board's gender diversity does not influence significantly investment in innovation (Martini et al, 2012), R&D teams and incremental innovation (Diaz-García et al, 2013). Erkut et al (2008) and Torchia et al (2011) suggested also that boards must include at least three women in order to make a real contribution to board effectiveness.…”

Section: Board's Strategy Role and Ambidextrous Innovationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The contribution of board of directors’ roles to ambidextrous innovation

Rejeb

Berraies

Talbi

2019

EJIM

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the link between board of directors’ roles namely strategy, service and control roles and ambidextrous innovation. This study also aims to determine whether the independence and gender diversity of boards have mediating effects in this relationship. Design/methodology/approach On the basis of a quantitative approach, the authors conducted a survey on all Tunisian-listed firms. A partial least square method was used to analyze the quantitative data. The authors also conducted semi-structured interviews with a sample of boards’ members of the surveyed firms followed by a thematic analysis of the discourses to discuss the results. Findings Results revealed that ambidextrous innovation is negatively linked to board’s control role. The outcomes of this research show also that ambidextrous innovation is positively associated with board’s service role and that the gender diversity moderates positively this link. Findings do not indicate a significant relationship between board’s strategy role and ambidextrous innovation but show evidence that the relationship is negatively moderated by independent directors, while positively moderated by gender diversity. Originality/value This research sheds light on the effects of Boards’ roles on ambidextrous innovation and the moderating effect of board’s gender diversity and independence as well. This paper addresses the gap in the literature as this thematic has not been studied, offering key insights with regard to corporate governance of companies looking to achieve ambidextrous innovation.

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Section: Board's Strategy Role and Ambidextrous Innovationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The contribution of board of directors’ roles to ambidextrous innovation

Rejeb

Berraies

Talbi

2019

EJIM

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“…However, from the resource dependence theoretical perspective, literature presents ample evidence to support the importance of board meetings in internationalization of firms. Firstly, board and committee meetings are pivotal in informing and involving directors in the decision-making process in firms (Tuggle et al , 2010), and hence board meetings forums are important for a firm involved in internationalization activities (Martini et al , 2012). Frequent board meetings are required to help members gain a better understanding of the internationalization activities of the firm, facilitate the evaluation of new, potential projects and provide more opportunities for board members to confer, to set strategy and to manage the operational complexity of the strategic decisions facing the firm (Wincent et al , 2010).…”

Section: Theory and Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Limiting role of resource dependence: an examination of director interlocks, board meetings and family ownership

Panicker

Upadhyayula

2020

CCSM

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PurposeThis paper attempts to examine the activity and involvement of board of directors in internationalization activities of firms in emerging markets, by evaluating the resource provisioning roles of interlocks provided by board of directors, and the frequency of board meetings. We demonstrate that the effectiveness of board involvement is contingent upon the levels of family ownership in firms since family ownership could impact the firm’s ability to utilize the presence of different types of board members.Design/methodology/approachThe authors test our hypotheses on a sample of listed Indian companies, extracted from the Prowess database published by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), a database of the financial performance of Indian companies. On a panel of 3,133 firm years of 605 unique Indian firms with foreign investments, over a time period of 2006–2017, the authors apply different estimation techniques.FindingsThe results demonstrate that both board meeting frequency and director interlocks are instrumental in supporting internationalization activities in emerging market firms. However, family ownership moderates the role of insider and independent interlocks on internationalization investments in different ways; the authors find that interlocks provided by independent directors support internationalization activities in family firms, whereas those provided by insider directors do not. Further, the study also finds that board meetings are less effective in internationalization of family firms.Practical implicationsThe authors conclude that family firms aiming at international diversification require to develop more connected and networked independent directors to enable internationalization in firms. While independent director interlocks enhance the international investments, it is also useful to know that board meetings are ineffective in utilizing the resources in family firms. This points to the possibility that family firms should device mechanisms to integrate family meetings with board meetings so that they can utilize the within-family processes to aid in their internationalization decisions.Originality/valueThe study contributes to resource dependence theory by understanding its limiting role in family firms. Theoretically, it helps delineate the limiting resource provision role of the insider directors vis-à-vis independent directors. The authors argue that the resource provision role of insider director interlocks does not effectively help in internationalization in comparison to independent director interlocks in family-dominated firms. Consequently, the study shows the limiting role of resource provision and utilization by family-owned firms in comparison to non-family-owned firms.

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“…(p. 14) Empirical findings are mixed. For Italian firms, Martini, Corvino, and Rigolini (2012) showed that board diversity does not influence investments in innovation. In large UK firms, board diversity has a reputational effect that varies across sectors and is more significant in those closest to final consumers (Brammer et al, 2009).…”

Section: Corporate Governance and Gender Diversity In The Boardroommentioning

confidence: 99%

Does gender diversity on corporate boards increase risk‐taking?

Loukil¹,

Yousfi

2015

Can J Adm Sci

111

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We study the impact of board gender diversity on firm risk‐taking in a developing market. Our study is drawn from a sample of 30 Tunisian‐listed firms between 1997 and 2010. First, we found that women have a risk perception that leads to risk avoidance behaviour: the presence of women directors, even when there is one woman director, is positively associated with cash ratio. Second, we showed no significant relationship between board gender diversity and the propensity to take strategic or financial risk‐taking. Third, the presence of state officer/bureaucrats and/or politically connected women have a positive effect on cash holding and investment opportunities. Finally, we found that foreign investors do not invest in firms with gender‐diverse boards. We conclude with a discussion of contributions to scholarship and practice, and present avenues for future research. Copyright © 2015 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Board diversity and structure: What implications for investments in innovation? Empirical evidence from Italian context

Cited by 27 publications

References 59 publications

The contribution of board of directors’ roles to ambidextrous innovation

The contribution of board of directors’ roles to ambidextrous innovation

Limiting role of resource dependence: an examination of director interlocks, board meetings and family ownership

Does gender diversity on corporate boards increase risk‐taking?

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