Chairwoman and openness to gender diversity: A view beyond the number of women on boards

What makes women more likely to be appointed in chair positions? Our study goes beyond the numerical representation of women on boards in examining the likelihood of nominating woman chair. Building on the Attention Based View (ABV) theory, we look how the board openness to gender diversity and the diversity management adopted by a company influence board decisions of nominating a woman as a chair (of a board or/and of a committee). We focus on three European countries, analyzing the listed companies belonging to the FTSEMIB companies (Italy), IBEX companies (Spain) and CAC-40 companies (France). Our main findings show that in companies where boards are more used to and open to gender diversity through the inclusion of female directors for a longer period of time, there is higher probabilities of appointing women as chairs. Moreover, companies who are more inclined to adopt diversity management policies, are also more likely to have women chairs. Furthermore, we also show that the board experience and board skills is an additional channel through which gender board equality can be enhanced. Our research suggests that the board openness to diversity as well as diversity management are pivotal to a social change.