Female representation on the boards of directors of non-financial companies

Abstract

This study offers new insights to help improve our understanding of the impact of female representation on firm performance, as measured by return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) and using non-financial institution data from Jordan. The study utilizes a lagged dependent variable in the regression models by employing the generalized method of moments (GMM) for dynamic panel analysis of the panel data of 77 companies over the period 2008-2018. The results of the regression analysis reveal that leverage, board size, and firm size were positive and statistically significant, while the age of the firm was statistically significant but had a negative effect, which indicates the existence of a relationship between these variables and the performance of Jordanian companies. However, the results fail to show any effect of the impact of female representation on firm performance as measured by return on assets and return on equity. This finding might be attributed to the low representation of females on non-financial institution boards, which was only 3.63%, a very low figure compared to that of males on Jordanian boards. Therefore, our results are valid only for Jordanian firms and cannot be generalized to ones in other countries, which might have different cultural and legal perspectives.