{"title":"Cross-border M&A, gender-equal culture, and board gender diversity","authors":"Yangming Bao, Jie Li","doi":"10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2023.102527","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This paper investigates how acquirers' board gender structures respond to the target country's gender-equal culture following cross-border M&A deals. Using a sample of Chinese public firms that conducted cross-border M&As from 2008 to 2019, we find that acquirers tend to adjust the proportion of female directors to better align with the target country's gender-equal culture. We address the potential selection concerns by adopting the Heckman two-step method and show the results are robust. Further analyses show that acquirers are more likely to adjust their board gender structures when the deal size and the target size are larger, and when the communication and legitimacy barriers are greater, suggesting the adjustment is a strategic move. Moreover, we find evidence of synergy gains following board adjustments in terms of enhanced firm performance and increased innovations.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":15525,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Corporate Finance","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.2000,"publicationDate":"2023-12-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Corporate Finance","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929119923001761","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BUSINESS, FINANCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This paper investigates how acquirers' board gender structures respond to the target country's gender-equal culture following cross-border M&A deals. Using a sample of Chinese public firms that conducted cross-border M&As from 2008 to 2019, we find that acquirers tend to adjust the proportion of female directors to better align with the target country's gender-equal culture. We address the potential selection concerns by adopting the Heckman two-step method and show the results are robust. Further analyses show that acquirers are more likely to adjust their board gender structures when the deal size and the target size are larger, and when the communication and legitimacy barriers are greater, suggesting the adjustment is a strategic move. Moreover, we find evidence of synergy gains following board adjustments in terms of enhanced firm performance and increased innovations.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Corporate Finance aims to publish high quality, original manuscripts that analyze issues related to corporate finance. Contributions can be of a theoretical, empirical, or clinical nature. Topical areas of interest include, but are not limited to: financial structure, payout policies, corporate restructuring, financial contracts, corporate governance arrangements, the economics of organizations, the influence of legal structures, and international financial management. Papers that apply asset pricing and microstructure analysis to corporate finance issues are also welcome.