Impact of corporate governance principles on women’s quality work environment attitudes: A neo-institutional perspective

Abstract

Mainstream institutional theories and corporate governance studies are entwined with patriarchal business relationships. However, within the theories the gender factor and benefits of the institutionalization process and corporate governance principles in terms of women’s employment in organizations have not been fully investigated. In addition, whether corporate governance principles are an effective tool to keep women in working life has not received sufficient attention in the literature. The paper aims to explore the contribution of institutionalization process and corporate governance interaction to employment and working environment quality with respect to female employees in the labour market where patriarchal labour relations are dominant. To achieve this purpose, the authors designed a questionnaire to compare gender groups in organizations that have adopted the principles of institutionalization and corporate governance. The total of 506 employees actively working in organizations in Turkey participated in the survey. Respondents’ answers were analysed using the structural equation models in the SPSS statistical program. The research findings revealed that the institutionalization process has a partial mediation effect on women’s attitude to quality of work environment. On the other hand, it was determined that corporate governance principles have no moderator effect on women’s attitude to work environment quality. The findings demonstrate that as the transparency and professionalization levels increase, women tend to prefer the organizations more. Compared to men, female managers and assistants embrace transparency and professionalization as a distinguishing quality of an efficient organization. Since corporate governance principles strengthen women’s employment in organizations in terms of equal wages and career opportunities, managers need to consider these principles as a substantial element of a company’s activities.