How does gender diversity impact board performance? Insights from Australian sport

This study investigates how gender diversity impacts board performance in sport organisations, focusing on the 40% gender quota introduced in Victoria, Australia, in 2019. Drawing on 36 in-depth interviews with board members operating within this context, it examines how increased representation of women has shaped board processes, roles, and overall performance. The findings indicate a prevailing perception that a critical mass of women on boards leads to a stronger presence of values that promote collaboration, risk awareness, and being stakeholder-oriented. This was found to impact board performance in multifaceted ways. Board processes (i.e. decision-making and dynamics) appear to benefit most from gender diversity, as it is perceived to foster more respectful and ultimately productive interactions, as well as harness passion. The impact of gender diversity on board roles was reported to manifest in the following ways: stakeholder engagement is enhanced through more thoughtful communication, risk management becomes more considered, and strategic planning and policymaking gain from a stronger focus on welfare issues. However, gender diversity was not reported to have a substantive, direct impact on CEO supervision. This study extends theoretical and practical understandings of sport governance. In line with resource-dependency theory, it identifies a positive connection between gender diversity and board performance and advances the literature by providing a nuanced and fine-grained analysis of how these effects arise.