Title: Do gender-diverse boards lead to selection of female CEOs: a study of life insurance firms in the USA

Authors: B. Elango

Addresses: MQM Department, Illinois State University, Campus Box: 5580, 100 N University St., Normal, IL 61761, Illinois, USA

Abstract: In recent years, one overarching corporate governance goal in the corporate world has been to increase the number of female CEOs of firms. It has been argued that one approach to achieve this goal is through a gender-diverse board. This study empirically tests to see if a relationship exists between gender-diverse boards and female CEOs. This study focuses on a sample of firms in the USA operating in the life insurance segment of the financial services industry, with data from hand-collected and secondary data sources. Findings indicate that a greater number of women on a company's board of directors leads to a greater likelihood that a firm will have a female CEO. This finding is quite robust in the alternate specifications of the model tested, offering confidence in the study findings.

Keywords: female; CEO; corporate governance; gender-diverse board; female CEO; logit modelling; financial services industry; life insurance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBGE.2023.130090

International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, 2023 Vol.17 No.3, pp.279 - 292

Received: 01 Mar 2021
Accepted: 19 Nov 2021
Published online: 05 Apr 2023 *

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