Gender and ethnic diversity on boards and corporate information environment Article

Upadhyay, A, Zeng, H. (2014). Gender and ethnic diversity on boards and corporate information environment . JOURNAL OF BUSINESS RESEARCH, 67(11), 2456-2463. 10.1016/j.jbusres.2014.03.005

cited authors

  • Upadhyay, A; Zeng, H

authors

abstract

  • Prior studies argue that demographic diversity on a firm's board impacts its information environment, yet there is limited empirical evidence regarding the relation between board diversity and corporate opacity. We extend this line of research by examining whether gender and ethnic diversity of directors impacts corporate opacity. Using a Herfindahl Index based on directors' gender and ethnicities to measure board diversity, and an opacity index based on analyst following, analyst forecast error, bid-ask spread, and share turnover to measure corporate opacity, we find that board diversity is negatively associated with corporate opacity. Our results are robust to alternative measures of board diversity and the various tests we employ to address potential endogeneity concerns. © 2014 Elsevier Inc.

publication date

  • January 1, 2014

published in

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

start page

  • 2456

end page

  • 2463

volume

  • 67

issue

  • 11