Gender diversity, governance and dividend policy in Brazil.
| Autor | Almeida, Tatiana Aquino |
-
Introduction
The growth of the presence of women in the management of organizations, which makes the composition of deliberative bodies more heterogenous--most importantly regarding gender--indicates notorious sources of different perspectives and solutions for strategic decisions in companies. Thimoteo, Zampier & Stefano (2015) affirm that, despite the patriarchal culture that exists in Brazil, the market has acknowledged the strength of the female presence in strategic positions and identified that the characteristics of female leadership can be responsible for reshaping the method and content of entrepreneurial decision-making.
Before such complex organizational environments marked by constant changes, one understands that such diversity can alter the content and the quality of decision-making in companies due to the female presence in management as an absent variable in previous scenarios; moreover, evidences have pointed out that heterogenous groups affect the quality of perspectives and judgment in the decision-making process, which shows superior results when compared to decisions made by less diverse groups (Francoeur, Labelle, & Sinclair-Desgagne, 2008).
Byoun, Chang & Kim (2016) affirm that the heterogeneity in the composition of management bodies of a company can promote a positive impact on the mitigation of agency conflicts and gender diversity--more specifically--can work as an arbitrage of conflicting interests, favoring a higher identification among the agents of the organization. Besides, the authors conclude that gender diversity has promoted a greater monitoring of contracts with a consequent effectiveness in the resolution of conflicts between stockholders and managers.
As the heterogeneity of the company's upper management team brings a greater variety of perspectives for entrepreneurial decisions (Byoun et al., 2016), it is possible to notice according to Martinez & Oms (2016) a differentiation in decisions regarding capital allocation in companies due to the female presence. According to these authors, women operating in strategic decisions can still incorporate strong control mechanisms in management. Such statement has also been made by Carter, Simkins & Simpson (2003) when affirming that the female participation in management raised important issues that did not come from directors with a homogenous cultural background, stereotyped by the male gender.
This way, we intend to find out if the female participation in deliberative bodies can reflect aspects of the decision-making process in management, reaching elements explicitly related to dividend policy, which is a theme strongly associated with capital structure and cost regarding potential conflicts between managers, stockholders, debt investors and minority shareholders.
The dividend policy is to be found as one of the main research elements on finances more due to its governance characteristic than to the simple generation of earnings and operational cash flows. When being outlined through managerial issues according to the performance of the company, the dividend policy can also be aligned with personal interests (or behavioral attributes) of managers (Martinez & Oms, 2016); therefore, it can also be influenced by distinct female abilities considering the evidences of marginal influence of heterogeneity in the design of such policies, especially regarding decisions that involve behavioral items.
We argue, therefore, that the female presence can incorporate stronger monitoring mechanisms, which could lead to a break (or modification) of the modus operandi of a determined group, in this case, management and deliberation bodies, on behalf of stakeholders' interests. In this study, we understand that the differentiation would occur through greater and more frequent levels of earnings distribution; such levels would be controlled by the company's economic and financial conditions that are restricted to its liquidity.
The scope of the research focuses on the detection of signals that identify the marginal influence of the female participation, in the board of directors (BD) and in positions of the executive board (EB) in Brazilian companies, on dividend policy-related decisions; we intend to analyze if the increase of female participation per se--apart from any cognitive, institutional or individual attributes--can affect the decision-making in terms of dividend policy.
This way, we intend to investigate and to deepen the analysis on heterogeneity in the composition of management bodies of companies regarding the level and nature of their decisions, represented by deliberations referring to the distribution of dividends, while also comparing such decisions to the ones taken by more homogenous bodies in terms of social and demographic characteristics.
It is worth emphasizing that interactions between female participation in upper management bodies and dividend policy are still in its early stage of discussion in the international scientific scenario (Byoun et al., 2016; Mcguinness, Lam & Vieito, 2015; Martinez & Oms, 2016; Van Pelt, 2013). Furthermore, the justification of this research is related to the provision of contributions to the literature by adding evidences on the consequences of gender diversity in management regarding strategic decisions, which involve contracts between the company and important stakeholders in a developing economic environment and aggregates behavioral and human variables not represented by purely economic models. In the managerial sphere, the results can raise discussions on the use of monitoring mechanisms, helping the decision to implement policies that favor more heterogenous groups within the composition of company bodies.
Besides, we also justify this research by the lack of explanations on dividend policy, taking into account the inconclusiveness of previous research studies; models that try to explain such phenomenon still lacks a more rigorous formalization. We provide, therefore, the academia with knowledge on the theme, and investors with evidences of impacts differentiated by the female presence in the decisions that can affect the return of capital, especially regarding the reception of cash flows in Brazilian companies.
-
Literature review and hypothesis
2.1 Heterogeneity and female participation in entrepreneurial management The homogeneity of characteristics of individuals in upper management (such as white, middle-class and middle-aged men) indicates a group of workers with similar educational backgrounds and market experiences (Singh, Vinnicombe & Johnson, 2001). This sort of corporate boards composition implies a limited perspective of managers especially in terms of contractual relationships--which ultimately arises from diverse perspectives on social and political interpersonal relationships--while the diversity of such managerial team could entail a wider spectrum regarding contractual situations and economic agreements (Carter et al., 2003).
Diversity in upper management, according to Byoun et al. (2016), promotes a better understanding of the environmental complexity, reducing risks stemming from a unique way of thinking of a determined group; this way, diversity would be contributing to a more effective decision-making. This has also been perceived by Perryman, Fernando & Tripathy (2016) when mentioning the characteristic value of diverse groups in making decisions in innovation-related situations.
According to Robinson & Dechant (1997) and Byoun et al. (2016), team heterogeneity in management has produced creative and innovative solutions for entrepreneurial problems. This way, it is possible to emphasize that the heterogeneity (or diversity) of the staff that composes the upper management can bring a greater variety of perspectives in entrepreneurial decisions (Byoun et al., 2016; Perryman et al., 2016), which turns problem-solving more effective from a contractual point of view (Robinson & Dechant, 1997).
On the other hand, despite recognizing that a greater diversity among members of the BD can promote creative and innovative ideas, Carter, D'Souza, Simkins & Simpson (2010) indicated that such heterogeneity can also indicate a slower and more conflicting decision-making process.
Thus, the incorporation of heterogenous groups in company management, especially in terms of deliberative aspects, could influence directly strategies established in the decision-making process of the company--considering particular impressions and perceptions of an individual with low participation in the decision-making team of the company. The composition of bodies of strategic decisions regarding gender, race and culture is considered therefore an important issue to be faced by managers, directors and company's shareholders (Carter et al., 2003).
As pointed out by Thimateo et al. (2015), women have been performing social roles considered predominantly masculine, such as corporate positions and functions. However, the authors highlight that the head of the company and positions of higher social prestige and power--i.e. activities involved with leadership--are activities predominantly linked to the male figure. Such reality is also acknowledged by Gomes (2005) when affirming that organizations were designed based on male values and, therefore, the male presence is predominant and by Gongalves, Espejo, Altoe and Voese. (2016) when addressing the entrepreneurial universe. According to these researchers, there is a growth in the number of women in companies, but only a few are chosen for deliberative and strategic positions. It is worth mentioning some exceptions stemming from succession processes, most importantly regarding the family control over companies.
A study conducted with 176 companies (Spencer Stuart, 2017) indicates a low female participation in BD; women represented 8.2 percent of the members. According to this report, there was a little representative evolution of gender...
Para continuar a ler
PEÇA SUA AVALIAÇÃOCOPYRIGHT GALE, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
