Restrictive and Supportive Mechanisms for Female Directors’ Risk-Averse Behavior: Evidence From South Asian Health Care Industry

This article aims to understand the impact of gender diversity on a firm’s equity volatility along with the moderating effect of chief executive officer (CEO) pay–performance sensitivity, institutional activism, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. The sample consists of 200 South A...

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Main Authors: Farzan Yahya, Ghulam Abbas, Ammar Ahmed, Muhammad Sadiq Hashmi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2020-10-01
Series:SAGE Open
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020962777
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author Farzan Yahya
Ghulam Abbas
Ammar Ahmed
Muhammad Sadiq Hashmi
author_facet Farzan Yahya
Ghulam Abbas
Ammar Ahmed
Muhammad Sadiq Hashmi
author_sort Farzan Yahya
collection DOAJ
description This article aims to understand the impact of gender diversity on a firm’s equity volatility along with the moderating effect of chief executive officer (CEO) pay–performance sensitivity, institutional activism, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. The sample consists of 200 South Asian health care firms over the period 2010 to 2018. After confirming the prevalence of endogeneity, we rely on the results of system generalized method of moments (GMM) rather than any static model. The results show that a higher representation of women on the board can mitigate the firm’s equity volatility. The findings of the study also purport that CEOs with higher pay–performance sensitivity exploit female directors to take the excessive risk, whereas institutional investors support the risk-averse behavior of these directors. However, we find no statistical evidence that CSR activities moderate the relationship between gender diversity and firm’s equity volatility. Our results theoretically support both stakeholder and agency perspectives that South Asian capital markets should enhance the representation of women on board to mitigate agency conflicts and to improve long-term firm’s sustainability.
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spelling doaj.art-0226e712e8474bb0879fc4777d9076a12022-12-22T00:41:48ZengSAGE PublishingSAGE Open2158-24402020-10-011010.1177/2158244020962777Restrictive and Supportive Mechanisms for Female Directors’ Risk-Averse Behavior: Evidence From South Asian Health Care IndustryFarzan Yahya0Ghulam Abbas1Ammar Ahmed2Muhammad Sadiq Hashmi3Institute of Southern Punjab, Multan, PakistanSukkur IBA University, PakistanMuhammad Nawaz Shareef University of Engineering and Technology, Multan, PakistanInstitute of Southern Punjab, Multan, PakistanThis article aims to understand the impact of gender diversity on a firm’s equity volatility along with the moderating effect of chief executive officer (CEO) pay–performance sensitivity, institutional activism, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. The sample consists of 200 South Asian health care firms over the period 2010 to 2018. After confirming the prevalence of endogeneity, we rely on the results of system generalized method of moments (GMM) rather than any static model. The results show that a higher representation of women on the board can mitigate the firm’s equity volatility. The findings of the study also purport that CEOs with higher pay–performance sensitivity exploit female directors to take the excessive risk, whereas institutional investors support the risk-averse behavior of these directors. However, we find no statistical evidence that CSR activities moderate the relationship between gender diversity and firm’s equity volatility. Our results theoretically support both stakeholder and agency perspectives that South Asian capital markets should enhance the representation of women on board to mitigate agency conflicts and to improve long-term firm’s sustainability.https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020962777
spellingShingle Farzan Yahya
Ghulam Abbas
Ammar Ahmed
Muhammad Sadiq Hashmi
Restrictive and Supportive Mechanisms for Female Directors’ Risk-Averse Behavior: Evidence From South Asian Health Care Industry
SAGE Open
title Restrictive and Supportive Mechanisms for Female Directors’ Risk-Averse Behavior: Evidence From South Asian Health Care Industry
title_full Restrictive and Supportive Mechanisms for Female Directors’ Risk-Averse Behavior: Evidence From South Asian Health Care Industry
title_fullStr Restrictive and Supportive Mechanisms for Female Directors’ Risk-Averse Behavior: Evidence From South Asian Health Care Industry
title_full_unstemmed Restrictive and Supportive Mechanisms for Female Directors’ Risk-Averse Behavior: Evidence From South Asian Health Care Industry
title_short Restrictive and Supportive Mechanisms for Female Directors’ Risk-Averse Behavior: Evidence From South Asian Health Care Industry
title_sort restrictive and supportive mechanisms for female directors risk averse behavior evidence from south asian health care industry
url https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020962777
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