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Women on Indian boards and market performance: a role-congruity theory perspective

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Abstract

Drawing on role-congruity theory, we explore the role of female board members in Indian firms. We find that the impact of female board members on market performance is positive for widely held high-tech firms, but negative in non-high-tech firms and high-tech firms that are family-controlled. Our results suggest that the relationship between female representation on Indian boards and market performance hinges on the (in)congruity between societally defined female gender roles and the expected characteristics of leadership.

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Notes

  1. In a robustness test, we use the definition of Team Lease (2016) to classify the high-tech and non-high-tech samples.

  2. The three-digit SIC code indicates sector group at a relatively smaller level, and the two-digit code at a broader level.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Park Road, Islamabad, 44000, Pakistan

    Syed Shafqat Mukarram, Abubakr Saeed & Muhammad Mustafa Raziq

  2. Lebow College of Business, Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA

    Shawkat Hammoudeh

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  1. Syed Shafqat Mukarram
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  2. Abubakr Saeed
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  3. Shawkat Hammoudeh
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Correspondence to Abubakr Saeed.

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Mukarram, S.S., Saeed, A., Hammoudeh, S. et al. Women on Indian boards and market performance: a role-congruity theory perspective. Asian Bus Manage 17, 4–36 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41291-018-0030-1

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