女性董事的风险规避与企业投资行为研究——基于金融危机的视角

Risk-avoidance of Women Directors and Firm Investment——From the Perspective of Financial Crisis

本文利用金融危机提供的自然实验机会,分析了女性董事的风险规避倾向是否会影响公司的投资决策。通过对2007-2009年A股上市公司的实证分析发现,在金融危机期间,女性董事比率高的公司投资水平下降得更快,而且这种效应主要集中在过度投资的公司中。进一步研究还发现,在金融危机期间,女性董事比率高的公司会减少长期借款,从而为企业未来的投资机会储备债务融资能力。本文结论表明,在面临不确定性的情况下,女性的风险规避有利于减少公司的过度投资,帮助公司克服金融危机所带来的不利影响。

The paper uses global financial crisis as the unique research setting to analyze the impact of female directors ＇ risk-avoidance on firm investment. Using A-share listed companies from 2007 to 2009, the paper finds that firms with higher female director ratio are more likely to reduce investment during the financial crisis period. This effect mainly exists in overinvestment sample firms. Further analysis also shows that firms with higher female director ratio are more likely to reduce long-term debt during the financial crisis period, in order to save debt capacity for future investment opportunities. The findings in this paper suggest that female directors ＇ risk-avoidance can reduce overinvestment and leverage to avoid unfavorable impact of financial crisis.