The Relationship between the Corporate Governance, Proportion of Female in Top Management and Operational Performance in Taiwan Banks under Business Cycle and Financial Crises

• Main Authors: CHI, PING, 戚 萍
• Other Authors: Shen, Chung-Hua
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2015
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/tb7f6x

碩士 === 國立臺北大學 === 國際財務金融碩士在職專班 === 103 === As women gain equal educational opportunities and seek economic independence, their labor force participation rate has trended upwards in Taiwan over the years. More and more women are becoming corporate leaders or high-ranking officers, exerting an ever-increasing impact on business performance. However, the existing literature on the impact of female leaders has not reached any consistent conclusions. Based on gender diversity in corporate governance, this study aims to understand how the relatively conservative and stable characteristics of female leaders may impact bank performance, as well as how this impact may be mediated through female leaders’ influence on corporate governance. The study uses the data between the years 2005 and 2013 of subsidiary banks of financial holding companies and other banks listed on the exchanges, totaling 26 banks. The panel data is employed for analysis. The findings of this study support the following five statements: First, in times of business recession and financial crises, a higher proportion of female leaders is positively correlated with better bank performance. This indicates that in Taiwan the conservative and stable characteristics of female leaders make banks less susceptible to adverse situations than banks dominated by male leaders. Second, higher proportions of female leaders have positive impact on banks’ risk management. When faced with business recession and financial crises, banks dominated by female leaders exhibit better risk control than those dominated by male leaders. The conservative and stable characteristics of female leaders are conducive to risk control of banks in Taiwan. Third, in business recession and financial crises, evidence is not enough to support a positive impact of female leaders on bank performance, as mediated through proportions of equity held by institutional investors. In addition, the impact of female leaders on banks’ risk management as mediated through proportions of equity held by institutional investors is not conclusive. Fourth, in business recession and financial crises, higher proportions of female leaders, as mediated through independent director proportions, have a positive impact on banks’ performance and returns. This indicates that the supervisory functions of independent directors help magnify the positive impact of female leaders on bank performance. However, higher proportions of female leaders, as mediated through independent director proportions, have a negative impact on banks’ risk management. This is likely because female leaders have similar effects as independent directors. A higher proportion of female leaders could lead to over-supervision and hence negatively impact risk management. Fifth, a U-shape or inverted U-shape non-linear relationship exists between female leader proportions and both the performance variable and the risk management variable. Therefore, instead of presuming that the higher female proportions the better, we should pursue an optimal arrangement to reach an optimal performance. In line with equality of the sexes and gender diversity, coordinating the different gender characteristics to meet the needs of organizations has positive impacts on performance. Therefore, to build a team with optimal diversity is an important task of corporate human resource management.