Female managers in Board Of Directors. A study of financial and innovation performance in the listed companies

PURPOSE In recent years, the topic of gender diversity has become increasingly relevant among both scholars and practitioners. In fact, with this work we want to analyse the evidence in the literature of the capacity of listed companies to develop processes for sustainable gender equity and financial performance. Furthermore, this survey aims to highlight in which subject areas more attention has been paid to Knowledge and Innovation for Sustainable Gender Equity. The hypothesis is to indicate that boards with composed in part of women group of female directors and boards with a sizable representation of female directors positively impact firms’ performance in a significant way. This, together with the push from the internal context of organisations on the one hand and the external context on the other in terms of regulations, has led to greater gender diversity within boards of directors. The following article aims to analyse the relevant literature with a particular emphasis on the European context, assessing gender diversity in boards of directors of listed companies and asks whether and to what extent the presence of women on boards has an influence on economic and financial performance. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH The research points out that the influence of gender diversity in the boardroom on company performance is now widespread in the literature. However, many studies do not find a direct correlation between the presence of women and positive financial results. ORIGINALITY/VALUE Other studies, while noting a greater presence of women on the boards of financially virtuous companies, impute the presence of women to performance and not the other way around. This is based on the grounds that the scarcity of women on boards linked with their compulsory presence allows them to be in a position to choose only the best-performing companies. This paper outlines how the topic of women's entrepreneurship has been addressed in the literature, in different subject areas, particularly in Business, Management and Accounting, and Economics, Econometrics and Finance. Starting from existing studies, which provide evidence on the performance impact of the overall percentage of female directors, the study unveils the differential impact of female directors on firms’ financial performance depending on their level of representation on the board. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS The digital transformation, the evaluation by sustainability indicators (ESG) with the implications of good evaluation that it entails, has prompted companies, especially large and listed ones, to broaden and make the composition of their boards more heterogeneous in terms of skills, interpersonal skills and gender diversity.