Do CEO gender and narcissism jointly affect CEO letter readability?

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to explore the impact of two CEO characteristics, gender diversity and narcissism, on disclosure quality through an examination of the joint effect of gender diversity in management and CEO narcissism. Based on 452 shareholder letters (CEO letters in the annual report) issued by French firms, our results suggest that female CEOs enhance the readability level of corporate disclosures. Our findings provide evidence that narcissism mediates women CEOs’ positive effect on the readability of CEO letters. This study extends previous studies on gender diversity by providing new insights into how women CEOs affect the quality of disclosures.