We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Men are from Mars, women are from Venus: on lenders' stereotypical views and the implications for a firm's debt.
- Authors
Bannò, Mariasole; D'Allura, Giorgia Maria; Coller, Graziano; Varum, Celeste
- Abstract
Building on social construction theory, this paper investigates how the presence of women on the board may affect access to credit because of lenders' gender-stereotyped views. In our view this translates into different levels of the firm's bank debt. To evaluate the impact of gender as a social construct, we designed a within-country analysis in Italy by distinguishing between egalitarian and non-egalitarian contexts. To test our hypotheses, we used a sample of 3514 Italian listed and unlisted firms. Results showed a lower level of bank debt for firms with a relevant number of women in the boardroom (i.e., critical mass) if located in a non-egalitarian context. This effect was partially mitigated in firms during a crisis situation. While extant research explains gender-based differences in a firm's financial structure by a change in inner-board mechanism/dynamics caused by differences in men/women characteristics, we argue that the social construction of gender may also induce lenders in different contexts to view boards with women differently in relation to access to credit.
- Subjects
ITALY; SOCIAL constructionism; VENUS (Planet); MONEYLENDERS; MARS (Planet); BUILDING design &; construction; MORTGAGE brokers; SOCIAL impact
- Publication
Journal of Management & Governance, 2023, Vol 27, Issue 2, p651
- ISSN
1385-3457
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s10997-022-09641-w