Do Women in Leadership Positions Affect Corporate Social Disclosures?

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Abstract
The corporate social disclosures made by companies are gaining popularity on a global scale. Companies are either doing it out of disclosure obligations or to reduce information asymmetries and gain investors' confidence. The objective of our study is to examine whether women directors affect the disclosures of social information for a representative sample of Indian listed companies. Our sample includes top listed NSE‐100 non‐banking Indian companies. We measure women participation at the leadership level using the ratio of women at the board level and the Blau index. The social scores include indicators on human rights, community, workforce, and product responsibility and we test the impact of gender diversity on these indicators. Further, three categories of women directors have been created: (a) one woman director, (b) two women directors, and (c) three or more women directors to test their impact on social disclosures. We use the social disclosure scores for measuring the corporate social disclosures of the company. The research is quantitative and has been carried out by using dynamic panel models. The empirical results reveal that gender diversity has a positive impact on social disclosure of firms. Also, the contribution of women directors to social disclosure scores becomes effective only after reaching a critical mass. This study has significant implications for management and practitioners as it helps to determine the significance of women participation at leadership positions in order to improve policies for disseminating information of social nature.

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