Board Gender Diversity and Corporate Expropriations: Evidence from Pakistan Stock Exchange

Abstract

This research study investigates the role of board gender diversity in mitigating the risk of corporate expropriation of listed companies in Pakistan. For this purpose, data from 2009 to 2019 has been collected for 223 firms randomly selected from 24 non-financial sectors. The current study used panel data analysis techniques i.e. random vs fixed-effect regression models were estimated for testing the relationship of board gender diversity and corporate expropriations. The results of the panel data analysis showed that Hausman test results support the random effect models for the analysis of the data. The results of the random effect models showed that board gender diversity has a negative significant effect on the dividend ratios and director loans, which are used as a proxy for corporate expropriations. Moreover, external audit quality, growth, and leverage are also found to hurt corporate expropriations. However, managerial ownership, net profit margin, and size variables are found to have a positive effect on corporate expropriations. The results of the study will be helpful for the corporate managers and policy makers regarding the corporate governance and provide a deep insight in to the role of the gender in managing and aligning the benefits of the outsider shareholders by reducing the corporate expropriations of controlling large shareholders.  The study is novel in its nature as being the first study that has been conducted in the context of Pakistan and has studied the role of gender in managing corporate expropriations.