The effect of gender diversity on the board of Spanish agricultural cooperatives on returns and debt: An empirical analysis

This paper focuses on gender diversity on the boards of Spanish agricultural cooperatives. Specifically, it examines the effect that gender diversity on the board exerts on returns, debt level, and economic risk. Cooperatives differ significantly from investor‐owned firms because cooperative members...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAgribusiness (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 35; no. 4; pp. 639 - 656
Main Authors Hernández‐Nicolás, Carmen María, Martín‐Ugedo, Juan Francisco, Mínguez‐Vera, Antonio
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Hoboken Wiley Periodicals Inc 01.10.2019
Subjects
Agricultural cooperatives
Agricultural economics
Agricultural management
Agronomy
Business administration
Cooperatives
debt
Economics
Empirical analysis
Gender
Legislation
returns
Spain
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Summary:This paper focuses on gender diversity on the boards of Spanish agricultural cooperatives. Specifically, it examines the effect that gender diversity on the board exerts on returns, debt level, and economic risk. Cooperatives differ significantly from investor‐owned firms because cooperative members are producers, agents, and customers of the cooperatives. In Spain, there is an ongoing debate about the importance of women in business management. Spain is also a pioneer in terms of enacting specific legislation for the social economy. The sample examined includes 672 agricultural cooperatives. The results show that firms with greater female representation on their boards have higher returns and operational risk and lower levels of debt. [EconLit Classifications: J16, J54, Q13].
ISSN:0742-4477
1520-6297
DOI:10.1002/agr.21608