WOMEN ON CORPORATE BOARDS AND TOP MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC COMPANIES: SINGAPORE CONTEXT

Abstract

This study is the first to examine gender diversity on both the boards and top management on publicly listed companies in the context of Singapore. Hence, this study will augment existing literature by providing fresh empirical evidence from an Asian country perspective. The sample data consists of 917 companies, 8481 directors and 6456 key executives spanning over a fourteen-year period from 2000 to 2013. My analysis of the sample shows that, generally, female representation on both the boards and top management increases during the period. I also found that firms with higher proportion of female directors also have higher proportion of female key executives. Using ROA and natural logarithm of Tobin’s Q, I further investigated the relationship between gender diversity and firm performance for 2013. The results show that there exist a positive and significant relationship between female representation on boards and top management, with ROA. When using natural logarithm of Tobin’s Q, only female representation in top management was found to have a positive and significant relationship. In its entirety, my results suggest positive association between gender diversity and firm performance.