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Securities litigation risk and board gender diversity

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  • Joo, Mohammad Hashemi
  • Lawrence, Edward
  • Parhizgari, Ali

Abstract

We investigate the effect of board gender diversity on the risk of securities litigation. We find that this risk is inversely related to the fraction of female independent directors on a firm's board. Additionally, the effectiveness of these directors in reducing securities litigation risk is negatively related to the firm's monitoring costs and positively related to its complexity. We further investigate the channels through which female independent directors may reduce the risk of securities litigation and attribute the reduction to improvements in conditional accounting conservatism and corporate social responsibility policy.

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  • Joo, Mohammad Hashemi & Lawrence, Edward & Parhizgari, Ali, 2021. "Securities litigation risk and board gender diversity," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:71:y:2021:i:c:s0929119921002248
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2021.102102
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    3. Davydov, Denis & Garanina, Tatiana & Weill, Laurent, 2022. "Managing bank liquidity hoarding during uncertain times: The role of board gender diversity," BOFIT Discussion Papers 11/2022, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).

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