How Do Female Board Directors Affect the Governance of Multinational Corporations

Abstract： Board of directors is the core of corporate governance. However， as a part of the board structure， female board directors have been paid relatively less attention， mainly because the proportion of female directors has always been rather low. Female directors have impact to some extent on both decision-making processes of the board and firm governance and performance. Through analysis on the data of the governance of multinational corporations， financial statistics， information of female leadership and so on， after making hypothesis and conducting an empirical research， this study concluded that female board directors are positively associated with the governance of multinational corporations， and finally some related suggestions were put forward.

Keywords： female board； multinational corporations； value； performance； governance.

1. The Relationship Between the Board and the Governance of MNCs

1.1The Functions of the Board in MNCs

Along with increasingly integration of the world economic， more and more multinational corporations （MNCs） make their strategic goal as integrating into the world market. （Adler， N.J. （1983） MNCs always pay more attention to how to expand overseas instead of thinking about the governance of their organization structure， which are also the keys to strengthening themselves.

Through the structure of a corporation， the board is consigned by the owner of the corporation and is given the decision-making rights， which make the board responsible for managing the corporations. The Board as a core component of MNCs plays a very necessary role in managing the structure of the corporations. The board directors own operational， decision-making and supervisory functions. Therefore， the board has a close association with the long-term development prospects of the corporations， as well as the benefits and the profits of shareholders.

1.2The Positive Effects of the Female Board Directors

Firstly， if there is a certain percentage of female in the board， they can provide unique ideas and information during a business discussion process. According to a study fromAlison M. Konrad and Vicki W. Kramer， a male CEO noted that his company attached great importance to the gender balance of the board and he articulately stated that the presence of women directors could contribute to the producing a wide range of viewpoints， which were conducive to the company's development. He also believed that customers came from different gender and different environments；that’s why the board needed more diverse persons with a different gender， nationality， and interest. In addition to interpersonal development and interpersonal communication， female directors not only more likely to listen to the opinions and suggestions than men， but also very keen on caring the requirements and problems from the stuff due their sensitive thoughtful.

Secondly， women directors have positive effects on the oversight functions. According tothe research from Dr. led by University of Jerusalem in the 1990s， women display more selflessness and fair during the work process than men， because there are more altruistic gene in the female body. It can be concluded that women directors pay more attention to the issues between employees and customers， even they will raise the issues directly related to the company's stakeholders， which help promote effectively to the board discussion and work.

Thirdly， female directors are helpful to the set of company's reputation and good image in the worldwide. The presence of female directors provides positive incentives for the MNCs’ images and company's female employees inside the workplace， make them think they can achieve career success through their own efforts， and achieve better social status. The existence of a certain proportion of women in a company’s board also help establish the MNCs’ good reputation， which means the company has a certain fairness standard in the selection of talent， and there is no gender discrimination and prejudice， either.

Lastly， the number of female directors has some effects on fulfilling important functions and the board process. When the board has only one woman， her presence will be very weak， and just play a symbolic role. When there are two female directors， the proportion of women is still very low. When the board has more than three female directors， the proportion of female directors will have a leap and helpful to adjust the sex ratio imbalance in the board， and even more women will express themselves， ask more questions， also more likely to be listened from male directors. Their presence helps to improve the team's ability and cooperate cohesion among board members， andto make the decision-making process easier and efficiency.

2. Methodology and Data Analysis

2.1Theory and Assumptions

According to currently existing research， Yermack （1996） found that there is a negative correlation between Tobin's Q and size of the board.Vafeas （1999） through the study found that the number of board meetings existed a negative correlation with the value of the company. According to previous studies， a certain percentage of women board directors can be considered from a different perspective， and to have a positive impact on the operation of the board， which is final conducive to corporate governance. However， did not play a significant role in promoting the company's profits. And learn from the past literature， use the economic performance to measure the governance of MNCs is a comprehensive consideration， therefore， this paper presents the following assumptions：

Hypothesis 1： There is a positive correlation between female directors and governance and performance of MNCs；

Hypothesis 2： There is a negative correlation between female directors and governance and performance of MNCs；

Hypothesis 3： There is no correlation between female directors and governance and performance of MNCs；

2.2The Introduction of Models

Establish five models by using four different ways， including descriptive analysis， correlation analysis， and regression analysis.

Descriptive statistics：

The data will be collated to do descriptive statistics， which focus on summarizing the data from sample companies and calculating the maximum， minimum， mean and standard deviation， to do a simple analysis of the basic features.

Correlation analysis：

Then do variable multicollinearity text of each variable before regression analysis. If there is collinearity， the explanatory power of the independent variables on the dependent variable will be seriously affected， and ultimately can’t make a correct analysis.

By calculating the correlation coefficient to consider when a variable change， how changes in another variable. For the analysis of data， we can measure the degree of the correlation coefficient between variables.

Regression analysis：

Finally， use the significant independent variables and dependent variable to do a regression analysis to verify the hypothesis， indicating positive and negative relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable.

Generalized correlation analysis also includes the regression analysis. For the presence of correlation between the variables， using the corresponding functions to estimate values of the independent variables based on the selected dependent variables， this method is usually called regression analysis.

Two different models are established by using different dummy variables， the formulas are as followed：

X4=α+β0·X0+β1·X1+β2·X2+β3·X3+β8·X8+β10·X10+βY·Y+ε

X4=α+β00+X00+β1·X1+β2·X2+β3·X3+β8·X8+β10·X10+βY·Y+ε；

2.3The Collection of Data

This research selects the data from year 2012 MNCs that are from Shanghai City and Shenzhen City in China as samples， to study the correlation of female directors and corporate governance. Our original samples according to the following criteria were screened： Firstly， excluding the ST and PT companies； secondly， excluding the financial companies； thirdly， excluding the companies who have the incomplete data. After the above screening， there are 1608 MNCs are selected.

The reasons for choosing this sample is because the limitations of accessing database over the world， it is easy to find the full comprehensive data in China from CSMAR Database； besides， the percentage of the female directors in China display the middle level in the world.

This section firstly selects Rate of Return on Common Stockholders’ Equity （ROE） （Y）， the proportion of women directors （X0）， female chairman （X00， dummy variables）， the number of employees （X1）， the number of board meetings （X2）， the number of directors （X3）， Tobin's Q （X4）， operating margin （X5）， total asset growth （X6）， net profit growth （X7）， total assets （X8）， total revenue （X9）， total profit （X10）.

Tobin's Q （X4） as a more comprehensive variable can measure the value and performance of the company， so make it as a dependent variable， however， operating margin （X5）， total asset growth （X6）， net profit growth relations rate （X7）， total revenue （X9） and Tobin's Q （X4） are not significant with Tobin’s Q， so remove these variables.

2.4 The Analysis and Model Summary

According to the proposed hypothesis， the following statistical analysis are conducted：

3.The Results of Data Analysis

3.1 Analysis of Descriptive statistics （Table 1）

Table 1 shows a model of the results of description statistics， according to this table， the maximum female proportion is 52.9412% and the minimum is 0， the average and median are 15.6795% and 14.2857%， it can be concluded that now the female president still occupy a certain percentage， however， the ratio is also in the next phase.

3.2Analysis of Correlation Analysis （Table 2）

According to the Table 2， the correlation coefficients of the argument are relatively small， it reflects that the variables do not have a collinearity， and explanatory power of the dependent variables are not affected， so that we can make use of these data for research and get credible and scientific results.

3.3Analysis of Regression Analysis （Table 3）

The regression results in Table 3 shows F = 22.06441， its P value of 0.0000， indicating that the overall regression model is significant. The proportion of women directors （X0）， the number of employees （X1）， the number of board meetings （X2）， the number of directors （X3）， total assets（X8）， total profit （X10）， ROE （Y） and the constant term coefficient are all at 95% significant level and pass through T-test， which explain that the effects from these indicators on Tobin's Q （X4） are remarkable. Among them， the proportion of women directors （X0）’s coefficient is positive （0.405020）， indicating that the greater the proportion of female directors， the greater the Tobin's Q value. In summary， this result shows the proportion of female directors and corporate governance has a positive correlation. The empirical results verify Hypothesis 1.

3.4 Analysis of Correlation Analysis （Table 4）

As we can see from Table 4， the correlation coefficients of the argument are relatively small， this result does not display sufficiently to explain the collinearity among these variables， so the explanatory power of the independent variables on the dependent variable is not affected. Therefore， we can also use these data for research.

3.5Analysis of Regression Analysis （Table 5）

From the regression results in Table 5， F = 21.76899， its P value of 0.0000， indicating that the overall regression model is significant. The number of employees （X1）， the number of board meetings （X2）， number （X3） directors， total assets （X8）， total profit （X10）， ROE （Y） and the coefficient of the constant term are all at 99% significant leveland pass through T-test， which also explain that the effects from these indicators on Tobin's Q （X4） are remarkable. But female chairman （X00） did not pass the T-test， indicating female chairman （X00） influence on Tobin's Q （X4） is not significant. In short， female board directors have positive impacts on corporate governance and company performance in various aspects， which support the Hypothesis 1， but the results also show that the gender of the chairman in corporate governance is not a vital.

4. Conclusions and Future Study

Findings by behavioral psychology show that women have more cautious attitude towards work， their behavior will be more cautious and effective when faced with uncertain risks. In this paper， we do some research on the previous study over the whole world and establish models to analyze the relationships between female board directors and governance of MNCs. The data are all come from CSMAR Database from 1608 MNCs in China， analyzing the relationship by using descriptive statistics， correlation analysis and regression analysis with establishing five models. The results show that the proportion of female board directors and Tobin's Q has a positive correlation between， besides， the greater proportion， the greater Tobin's Q value. Tobin's Q is defined as the ratio of market value to its replacement value， which can effectively measure the level of the company's market value， which reflects the company's performance and governance， in addition， the number of female directors significantly impact on employees， number of board meetings， the number of directors， total assets， total profit， return on net assets and other significant.

The results of this basic research support theHypothesis 1： there is a positive correlation between female directors and governance and performance of MNCs. Female directors can bring positive effects to the company， for one thing， they can avoid the risk to some extent and bring profits to improve the company's market value and corporate performance； for another， they can be more conducive to the promotion of staff cohesion and improve the company's operational efficiency.

Conclusions from this study also have some important policy implications： first， the proportion of female board directors of China is in a low level based on international standards，our data study supports women directors improve the corporate governance structure， thus providing a basis for the decision-making whether the board of directors of each MNC should increase the ratio of women. Secondly， with the fast development of social thought， the society has almost no gender discrimination concept. This study is a theoretical and empirical research for approve and develop today's emerging values.

This paper points that the MNCs should increase the number of female board directors to some extent， to keep gender balance and complement with male directors. This suggestion benefits all job functions and operations in the company， and to improve the governance structure to bring more performance and market value.

Reference：

[1]Nygaard， Knut， 2011. “Forced board changes： Evidence from Norway.” Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration Discussion Paper Sam 5/2011.

[2]Ahern， Kenneth， and Amy Dittmar， 2012. “The Changing of the Boards： The Impact on Firm Valuation of Mandated Female Board Representation.” Quarterly Journal of Economics， 127（1）： 137-97.

[3]Matsa， David A.， and Amalia R. Miller， 2013. “A Female Style in Corporate Leadership？ Evidence from Quotas.” American Economic Journal： Applied Economics， 5（3）： 136-69.

[4]Adler， N.J.， 1983. “Organizational Development in a multicultural environment.” Journal of Applied Behavioral Science， Vol.19， No.3， pg.333-363.

[5]Alison M. Konrad and Vicki W. Kramer， 2006. “How Many Women Do Boards Need？” Harvard Business Review.

[6]Beaman， Lori， Raghabendra Chattopadhyay， Esther Duflo， Rohini Pande， and Petia Topalova， 2009. “Powerful women： Does exposure reduce bias？” The Quarterly Journal of Economics， 124： 1497–1540.

Personal profile：

Yu Liu was born on Jun 4， 1990. She graduated from Troy University， and got a master's degree in business administration.