How Does Gender Diversity on Corporate Boards Affect the Firm Financial Performance?

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to determine whether gender diversity in corporate boards has an impact on firm financial performance of Swedish OMX-listed firms. The study is conducted in Sweden, as there is frequent political pressure of a board gender quota, but no major research to base the discussion on. Previous research finds both positive and negative relationship between firm financial performance and the female gender variable; depending on market studied, time period and political climate. A common finding is that gender diversity has no impact on financial performance. Our study is based on panel data for 255 companies over a period of six years. We find that there is not a statistically significant relationship between neither ROA nor Tobin’s Q and the female gender variable; which indicates that no clear link can be seen in the gender diversity-performance relationship.