IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jjrfmx/v18y2025i5p276-d1657948.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Governance, Ownership Structure, and Financial Leverage: The Role of Board Gender Diversity in UK Firms

Author

Listed:
  • Dramani Angsoyiri

    (Lincoln International Business School, College of Arts Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Lincoln, Lincoln LN6 7TS, UK)

  • Fadi Alkaraan

    (Lincoln International Business School, University of Lincoln, Lincoln LN6 7TS, UK
    Gulf Financial Center, Gulf University for Science and Technology, Mishref, P.O. Box 7207, Hawally 32093, Kuwait)

  • Judith John

    (Lincoln International Business School, College of Arts Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Lincoln, Lincoln LN6 7TS, UK)

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between governance structure, ownership structure, and financial leverage of corporations in the UK, with a special emphasis on the boardroom gender diversity. The study sample includes 484 UK firms from the FTSE All-Share Index for the period (2015–2023), with 4356 firm-year observations. The results show that CEO duality, gender diversity, managerial ownership, institutional ownership, and government shareholding are all positively associated with financial leverage, thus confirming the importance of these governance and ownership characteristics in determining capital structure policies. On the other hand, board size and the proportion of non-executive directors are not found to have a significant impact on financial leverage, which points to some room for improvement in UK board practices. In this regard, the study contributes to the governance-sustainability-finance nexus discussion by focusing on these dimensions in the UK corporate sector. As such, the findings of this study are important in providing policy recommendations for policymakers and corporate leaders and contribute to the ongoing wave of global corporate governance reforms and practical insights into enhancing governance frameworks at the firm level.

Suggested Citation

  • Dramani Angsoyiri & Fadi Alkaraan & Judith John, 2025. "Governance, Ownership Structure, and Financial Leverage: The Role of Board Gender Diversity in UK Firms," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-22, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:18:y:2025:i:5:p:276-:d:1657948
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/18/5/276/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/18/5/276/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Oliver Hart & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1997. "The Proper Scope of Government: Theory and an Application to Prisons," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(4), pages 1127-1161.
    2. Fadi Alkaraan & Mahmoud Elmarzouky & Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour & Charbel Jose Chiappetta Jabbour & Nadia Gulko, 2025. "Maximising Sustainable Performance: Integrating Servitisation Innovation into Green Sustainable Supply Chain Management under the Influence of Governance and Industry 4.0," Post-Print hal-04846579, HAL.
    3. Sandra Alves, 2023. "Do female directors affect accounting conservatism in European Union?," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(2), pages 2219088-221, December.
    4. Alkaraan, Fadi & Elmarzouky, Mahmoud & Lopes de Sousa Jabbour, Ana Beatriz & Chiappetta Jabbour, Charbel Jose & Gulko, Nadia, 2025. "Maximising sustainable performance: Integrating servitisation innovation into green sustainable supply chain management under the influence of governance and Industry 4.0," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    5. Paul Guest, 2009. "The impact of board size on firm performance: evidence from the UK," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 385-404.
    6. Laura Mehnaz & Cherrie Yang, 2025. "Women in accounting research: a review of gender diversity, equity and inclusion," Meditari Accountancy Research, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 33(7), pages 30-59, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alharbi, Samar S. & Tabash, Mosab I. & Farooq, Umar & Issa, Suzan Sameer, 2025. "How does climate policy uncertainty determine green innovation adoption? New perspectives from the BRICS," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    2. Ahmad Alqatan & Walid Simmou & Maha Shehadeh & Faisal AlReshaid & Mahmoud Elmarzouky & Doaa Shohaieb, 2025. "Strategic Pathways to Corporate Sustainability: The Roles of Transformational Leadership, Knowledge Sharing, and Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-22, June.
    3. Yutong Sun & Meili Zhang & Jingping Chang & Chenggang Wang, 2025. "Unpacking Boundary-Spanning Search and Green Innovation for Sustainability: The Role of AI Capabilities in the Chinese Manufacturing Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-26, July.
    4. David Martimort & Flavio Menezes & Myrna Wooders & ELISABETTA IOSSA & DAVID MARTIMORT, 2015. "The Simple Microeconomics of Public-Private Partnerships," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 17(1), pages 4-48, February.
    5. ManYing Kang & Marcel Ausloos, 2017. "An Inverse Problem Study: Credit Risk Ratings as a Determinant of Corporate Governance and Capital Structure in Emerging Markets: Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies," Economies, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-23, November.
    6. Fu, Tong & Jian, Ze, 2020. "A developmental state: How to allocate electricity efficiently in a developing country," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    7. Martin Kyere & Marcel Ausloos, 2021. "Corporate governance and firms financial performance in the United Kingdom," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(2), pages 1871-1885, April.
    8. Yukari Fukuda & Jun-ichi Nakamura, 2021. "Economic Analysis of Public-Private Partnerships in Japan: Theoretical and Empirical Analyses Focusing on Adverse Selection and Synergy Effect," Public Policy Review, Policy Research Institute, Ministry of Finance Japan, vol. 17(2), pages 1-27, November.
    9. Tleubayev, Alisher & Bobojonov, Ihtiyor & Gagalyuk, Taras & Glauben, Thomas, 2020. "Board gender diversity and firm performance: Evidence from the Russian agri-food industry," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 23(1), pages 35-53.
    10. Schmitz, Patrick W., 2012. "Public goods and the hold-up problem under asymmetric information," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(3), pages 642-645.
    11. P.W.J. de Bijl & Helanya Fourie, 2019. "The energy transition: Does ownership matter for realizing public interest objectives?," Working Papers 19-24, Utrecht School of Economics.
    12. Antonio Sánchez Soliño, 2019. "Sustainability of Public Services: Is Outsourcing the Answer?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-12, December.
    13. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pc:p:3573-3630 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Hans Pitlik & Michael Klien & Stefan Schiman-Vukan, 2017. "Stabilitätskonforme Berücksichtigung nachhaltiger öffentlicher Investitionen," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 60595.
    15. Ali Uyar & Cemil Kuzey & Merve Kilic & Abdullah S. Karaman, 2021. "Board structure, financial performance, corporate social responsibility performance, CSR committee, and CEO duality: Disentangling the connection in healthcare," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(6), pages 1730-1748, November.
    16. Rudiger Ahrend & Carlos Winograd, 2006. "The political economy of mass privatisation and imperfect taxation: Winners and loosers," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 126(1), pages 201-224, January.
    17. Marco Bonomo & Ricardo Brito & Bruno Martins, 2014. "Macroeconomic and Financial Consequences of the After Crisis Government-Driven Credit Expansion in Brazil," Working Papers Series 378, Central Bank of Brazil, Research Department.
    18. Eggleston, Karen & Shen, Yu-Chu, 2011. "Soft budget constraints and ownership: Empirical evidence from US hospitals," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 110(1), pages 7-11, January.
    19. David, Guy & Chiang, Arthur J., 2009. "The determinants of public versus private provision of Emergency Medical Services," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 312-319, March.
    20. Ernst Fehr & Michael Powell & Tom Wilkening, 2014. "Handing Out Guns at a Knife Fight: Behavioral Limitations of Subgame-Perfect Implementation," CESifo Working Paper Series 4948, CESifo.
    21. Xavier Fageda & Germa Bel, 2008. "Local privatization, intermunicipal cooperation,transaction costs and political interests: Evidence from Spain," IREA Working Papers 200804, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Apr 2008.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:18:y:2025:i:5:p:276-:d:1657948. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.