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Board gender quotas and outward foreign direct investment: Evidence from France

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  • Koray Aktaş
  • Valeria Gattai
  • Piergiovanna Natale

Abstract

We show that board gender quota laws reduce the propensity of French firms to undertake outward foreign direct investment. For this, we use firm‐level data for the period 2007 to 2015 and a difference‐in‐difference approach. The exogenous increase in the share of women directors decreases the share of foreign subsidiaries by 7 percentage points when the share of women directors is at its highest. The share of foreign subsidiaries is affected by the decrease in probability of having a foreign subsidiary, which indicates disinvestment. The effects on outward foreign direct investment we detect are strongest for the poorly managed firms, pointing to tough managerial monitoring by gender diverse boards as the driving force behind results. Quotas par sexe dans les conseils d'administration et investissements directs à l'étranger: données probantes de la France. Nous montrons que les lois sur les quotas par sexe dans les conseils d'administration réduisent la propension des entreprises françaises à réaliser des investissements directs à l'étranger (IDE). Pour ce faire, nous utilisons des données d'entreprises pour la période de 2007 à 2015 et une méthode de différence des différences. L'augmentation exogène de la proportion de femmes administratrices diminue la participation dans les filiales étrangères de 7 points de pourcentage lorsque cette proportion est la plus élevée. La quote‐part des filiales étrangères est touchée par la diminution de la probabilité d'avoir une filiale étrangère, ce qui indique un désinvestissement. Les effets sur l'IDE que nous détectons sont les plus forts pour les entreprises mal gérées, ce qui indique que la surveillance rigoureuse de la gestion par des conseils d'administration mixtes est la force vive derrière de bons résultats.

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  • Koray Aktaş & Valeria Gattai & Piergiovanna Natale, 2023. "Board gender quotas and outward foreign direct investment: Evidence from France," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(4), pages 1291-1321, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:canjec:v:56:y:2023:i:4:p:1291-1321
    DOI: 10.1111/caje.12646
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