Reshaping Corporate Boards Through Mandatory Gender Diversity Disclosures: Evidence from Canada
中文摘要
我们研究标准化的性别多样性披露要求是否以及如何影响女性在公司董事会中的代表性。我们的分析利用加拿大2014年的监管规定，该规定要求披露关于董事会性别多样性政策和指导方针的一致且可比的信息。采用双重差分设计，我们发现该披露监管提高了女性在董事会中的代表性。这一提升在以下公司中更为明显：股东监督更强的公司（以环境、社会和治理（ESG）友好型投资者的持股比例作为代理变量）、监管前多样性表现较差的公司、属于多伦多证券交易所指数成分股的公司，以及在美国交叉上市的公司。此外，监管实施后，做出更强多样性承诺（例如披露采纳书面多样性政策和多样性目标）的公司，其外国ESG友好型投资者的持股比例出现了更大幅度的上升。综合来看，我们的发现表明，标准化的披露要求使股东能够更好地发挥监督作用，从而改善董事会的性别平衡。
Abstract
We study whether and how standardized gender diversity disclosure requirements affect women’s representation on corporate boards. Our analysis takes advantage of Canada’s 2014 regulation, which requires disclosures of consistent and comparable information on boards’ gender diversity policies and guidelines. Using a difference-in-differences design, we find that the disclosure regulation increases women’s representation on boards. The increase is more pronounced among firms with stronger shareholder oversight as proxied by ownership from environmental, social, and governance (ESG)–friendly investors, poor diversity performance preregulation, Toronto Stock Exchange index membership, and U.S. cross-listing. In addition, after the regulation, firms that make stronger diversity commitments (e.g., disclosing the adoption of written diversity policies and diversity targets) experience a higher increase in ownership by foreign ESG-friendly investors. Together, our findings suggest that standardized disclosure requirements enable shareholders to be better monitors, thereby improving board gender balance.