Contingent Effect of Board Gender Diversity on Performance in Emerging Markets: Evidence from the Egyptian Revolution

Abstract

The 2011 Egyptian revolution was associated with significant political and social upheaval, followed by societal changes and attempts by policymakers to reduce the marginalisation of women and promote their inclusion in the economy. Drawing on this background, the authors compare the effect of board gender diversity before and after the revolution. Results indicate that gender diversity in corporate boards is coupled with improvements in firm performance in the immediate post revolution phase. This evidence provides insights into the contextual factors related to diversity and performance relationship and supporting arguments for regulatory changes to further encourage women’s representation on boards.

Beyond Gender Quotas: Unveiling Intersectional Pathways to Political Equity in Egypt

“…For example, El-Saadawi (2021: p. 112) demonstrates how rural women, despite being beneficiaries of gender quotas, remain marginalized due to socio-economic and educational disparities. Recent studies, like those by Ararat et al (2021), further highlight the complex interplay between gender quotas and societal norms in Egypt. These works suggest that while quotas are a step towards gender parity, they are insufficient in societies with deeply ingrained patriarchal norms.…”

Does Board Cultural Diversity Contributed by Foreign Directors Improve Firm Performance? Evidence from Australia

“…5 For example, Bonn (2004), Kim and Starks (2016), Reguera-Alvarado et al (2017) find a positive relationship between board gender diversity and corporate performance, and Rose (2007) and Carter et al (2010) suggest that gender diversity has no effect on performance, while Darmadi (2011), Adams and Ferreira (2009), and Ahern and Dittmar (2012) find a negative relationship. Ararat et al (2021) suggest that gender diversity has a contingent effect on firm performance. The use of the metropolitan location as the instrument for board cultural diversity implies the assumption that the location of the firm's headquarters has no impact on the firm's performance in any way other than through board cultural diversity.…”

Corporate Finance, Governance, and Social Responsibility

“…Regarding financial modeling, stock market volatility was explored during the coronavirus outbreak (Gherghina et al 2021). Studies in the field of corporate governance have examined developments in corporate governance from a cross-country perspective , corporate governance compliance (with board) practices and company value (Aluchna and Kuszewski 2020), the impact of board attributes on bankruptcy risk (Maier and Yurtoglu 2022), company performance (Ararat et al 2021;Mihail et al 2022) or firm value (Lourenço et al 2021), the association between employees' stock option plans and firm performance (Ding and Chea 2021), the relationship between corporate governance and the power of major shareholders (Pourmansouri et al 2022), corporate governance practices and earnings management (Kjaerland et al 2020), and the link between timely accounting information disclosure infringement and corporate governance characteristics (Lukason and Camacho-Miñano 2020). With respect to CSR, the research was oriented toward the aspects of corporate finance that are impacted by CSR (Saeed and Sroufe 2021), the impact of CSR on financial performance (Rossi et al 2021), the association between CSR and risk management (Bozos et al 2022;Singh and Hong 2023), and the effect of a mandatory disclosure policy regarding CSR reports on forecasts of analysts' earnings (Tseng and Shih 2022).…”