| dc.description.abstract | In recent years, the promotion of gender equality and the female directors have become an international trend, making gender diversity of the board an important research topic at the international level. On the other hand, the investment in research and development (the “R&D”) is also a widely discussed topic for companies to overcome economic recession and establish a niche position to outperform their competitors.
A 2022 survey of 138 listed companies administered by female directors in Taiwan suggested that female leaders seek to expand the scope of investment with the highest proportion in R&D. Therefore, this study explores the impact of the ratio of female directors, the ratio of R&D investment, and the interaction of female directors and R&D investment when they are at a relatively high level on corporate performance such as Tobin′s Q, ROA and ROE.
Listed OTC companies from 2012 to 2020 are used as the research object. The ratio of female directors is measured by the total number of directors, while the ratio of R&D investment is measured by the proportion of R&D expenses in net operating income in financial reports. Empirical results indicate a positive and significant correlation between the ratio of female directors and returns to asset and equity, suggesting that hiring more female directors will augment the firm’s ROA and ROE, despite no significant connection to Tobin′s Q. Whereas, the ratio of R&D investment exhibits no significant correlation with Tobin’s Q, ROA and ROE, entailing that R&D investment has no substantial bearing on the corporate performance. Finally, taking the top 10% of R&D investment and female directors into consideration, their interaction shows negative correlation with Tobin’s Q, revealing that overly high ratio of female directors will attenuate the effect of R&D on the firm′s value, whilst its positive and significant correlation with ROA demonstrates that a high ratio of female directors will moderate the effect of R&D on corporate performance; in spite of no significant connection to ROE, highlighting the need for female directors to communicate with different stakeholders to improve the ROE. | en_US |