Corporate Reputation, Board Gender Diversity and Market Performance

Authors

Meredith B. Larkin, Roger Williams University
Richard A. Bernardi, Roger Williams UniversityFollow
Susan M. Bosco, Roger Williams UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2012

Comments

Published in: International Journal of Banking and Finance, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2012.

Abstract

This study examines the association between corporate transparency, ethical orientation of Fortune 500 companies, the number of females represented on the board of directors as reported in the 2010 annual report data and respective stock performance. Our basis for this judgment was whether the firm was listed on either (both) Ethisphere Magazine’s 2010 ‘World’s Most Ethical Companies’ or (and) Corporate Responsibility Magazine’s 2010 ‘100 Best Corporate Citizens List.’ Our results indicate that, as the number of women directors increased, the probability of a corporation appearing on these lists increases. Finally, while being on one of these lists did not increase corporate return data in a statistically significant sense, it did dramatically reduce the degree of negative returns.

Recommended Citation

Larkin, Meredith B., Richard A. Bernardi, and Susan M. Bosco. 2012. "Corporate Reputation, Board Gender Diversity and Market Performance." International Journal of Banking and Finance 9 (1): 1-16.