Board Gender Diversity and Financial Performance of US Banks: Evidence from Quantile Regression

Abstract

In recent years, the influence of board gender diversity on bank outcomes has attracted the interest of regulators, policymakers, and academics worldwide. This paper aims to investigate the impact of board gender diversity on bank performance using mean-based and quantile-based regression methods. Based on a sample of 305 listed US banks, we find that board gender heterogeneity positively impacts the performance of banks, and this impact varies across the performance distribution. More precisely, we find that female board members exert a significantly larger positive influence in high-performing US banks relative to low-performing counterparts. Contrary to previous studies predicting a uniform effect of gender diversity on the performance of banks, our results support the heterogeneous impact of board gender diversity on bank performance.