We investigate whether gender-diverse boards contribute to capital market efficiency through their role in corporate disclosure. Using Australia’s continuous disclosure regime, we provide evidence that female directors on the board improve the frequency and volume of all types of continuous disclosure. Further analyses show that the relationship between gender-diversity and continuous disclosure is non-linear. Moreover, it requires more than one female director to have any significant effect on continuous disclosure, which is consistent with the critical mass theory. The study uses lagged independent variables and the Two-Stage-Least Squares (2SLS) approach to minimise endogeneity concerns. The results are robust to alternative variable definitions. Moreover, the Generalised Methods of Moments (GMM) and difference-in-difference techniques are used.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	gender diversity; women on corporate boards; continuous disclosure; corporate governance; two-stage-least-squares method; generalised models of moments; difference-in-difference
Research Division:	Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services
Research Group:	Accounting, auditing and accountability
Research Field:	Accounting theory and standards
Objective Division:	Expanding Knowledge
Objective Group:	Expanding knowledge
Objective Field:	Expanding knowledge in commerce, management, tourism and services
UTAS Author:	Delaney, D (Dr Deborah Delaney)
ID Code:	138286
Year Published:	2017
Web of Science® Times Cited:	39
Deposited By:	Accounting
Deposited On:	2020-03-31
Last Modified:	2020-04-24
Downloads:	0