Business Research Method

Gender Diversity Affects Firm Market Performance and Investor Reaction in Malaysian Context

Introduction
Background of the Study: Increase the number of women directorships
Wide gender gap in Malaysia Impact of women on board to firm performance

Problem Statement:

Previous research sample : period too short (1 year)

Inconsistency of findings To what extent do women directorships affect firm market performance? What is the investor reaction to the announcement of women as director and non executive position?

Research Objectives:

To investigate the impact of women on board to the firm market valuation in Malaysian financial market To investigate the investor reaction toward the announcement of women directorship and women as non executive position ii. Nominating committee iii. Investor biasness

Significance of Study:

i. Insights to Public

Limitations of Study: Only applied in Malaysia Public Listed companies

Literature Review
Gender diversity
Composition of men and women representation on corporate boards Benefit of gender diversity: Increase representation of moral and ethical viewpoints in discussions; improve board decision making process Enhance creativity and innovative of idea for problem solving (Meredith et. al, 2012) Promotes board activism (Satirenjit Kaur Johl , 2012) Low degree of attendance issue at the board meeting (Roman Horvath, 2012) Women vs. Men: Age Directorships Tenure Independent Experiences (Daniel Ferreira, 2010) Financial risk adverse Trustworthiness (Rey Dang et.al, 2010) Women Characteristic : Risk adverse Trustworthiness (Rey Dang et.al, 2010) Coorperative Sympathethic Better monitoring Attend to needs of others (Ilhaamie Abdul Ghani Azmi, 2013)

Literature Review
Firm Financial Performance
Measure to extent firm use assets to operate business to gain profit Indicator to measure how well a firm performing compare to other identical firm in identical industries (Yeney Widya, 2012) Market based measurement is more objective ; depends on market response (Kenneth R. Ahern, Amy K. Dittmar, 2011) Positive impact to the short term stock market after announcement of female board appointment (Kevin Campbell and Antonio Minguez Vera, 2009) Firms with two to three women directorships had better financial performance (Catalyst, 2012) Positive investor respond to women directorships; positive impact on stock price In US, Spain, Australia (Catalyst, 2012) Positive impacts of women directorships to accounting performance, negative impacts to market performance in Malaysian PLC ; period: year 2008 (S.N.Abdullah et.al, 2012) Positive relationship between gender diversity and ROA in Malaysian PLC; period 2008-2009 (Julizaerma M.K and Zulkarnain Mohamad Sori, 2012) No relation between firm performance and gender diversity in Malaysian PLC; period: year 2011 (Siti Norwahida et.al, 2012)

Impact of Women on Boards of Directors to the Firm Market Performance

Methodology
Design of the Study: Proposed Theoretical: Framework Quantitative study , secondary data collected from Bursa Malaysia and firms annual reports Gender diversity in the boardroom Women representation on board Population of the Study: Malaysian Public Listed Companies Sample Size: Firms with women representations on boardroom Sampling Procedure: Simple random sampling method Research instruments: Secondary data; four consecutives years (2009-2012) firms annual reports Market performance (Tobins Q)

Methodology
Measurement Scales: Interval scale ; parametric statistical technique

Data Collection: From firms annual reports and Bursa Malaysia for 4 consecutives years (2009 2012)
Data Analysis: Tobins Q analysis Regression analysis Pearson Correlation Matrix (Reliability of data) T-test (Robustness of data)

References
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