The relationship between gender composition on the board and company risk
Date
2020
Authors
Javer, Nikita
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Abstract
This research report explores the relationship between board gender diversity of JSE-listed firms and the firm’s total and market risk. Board gender diversity is broken down into board composition, audit and risk committee composition and whether females are in key executive positions such as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. 60 financial companies listed on the JSE during the period 2004 and 2018 were selected. These financial companies exclude those companies which are in the financial services/banking sector which are listed on the JSE. The sample of companies were stratified into small, mid and large cap. Twenty companies within each cap were selected. The IRESS database was used for the data collection to obtain the integrated annual reports of these companies and their financial information. A panel regression model was used and the relationship between risk (measured by total risk and market risk) and board gender diversity were tested. The findings indicate that there is a relationship between the gender composition of the board and firm risk, but this relationship is not statistically significant. The research identified that there is no relationship between increases in gender diversity at the board level and lower company risk
Description
A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Commerce (Accounting) University of Witwatersrand, 2020