۱- Women on family business boards: A smart thing to do

۲- Family business goals: Beyond economic performance

۳- Economic benefits of women in the family business boardroom

۴- Women directors and family businesses’ noneconomic goals

۵- Why an absence of women on the board can harm the family firm

۶- Performance disadvantages of women directors

۷- Revisiting the research on performance disadvantages of women directors

۸- Measures to encourage the presence of women on family business boards

۹- Lessons learned

References

Abstract

The most successful and longest-enduring family firms are progressively encouraging the active presence of women on their corporate boards. Why is the presence of women on boards so important for family firms? And how can policy makers and controlling owners encourage the active presence of women on family business corporate boards? By integrating the literature on women in governance and the goals of family businesses, we take a step toward increasing shareholder awareness of the economic and noneconomic benefits that women can bring to the family business boardroom. Using theory and empirical evidence, we show that the presence of women on corporate boards can be instrumental for the controlling owners of a family business to achieve prosperity and success, to preserve family cohesion, and to improve the reputation of the family and business simultaneously. Furthermore, we discuss the socioemotional and economic ramifications of excluding women from the family business board of directors. We conclude with four practical recommendations for encouraging the active presence of women on family business boards.

Women on family business boards: A smart thing to do

One of the most important institutions determining the success orfailure in organizations is the board of directors. The board of directors sets the strategic direction of the firm and is responsible for maintaining its long-term performance (Judge & Talaulicar, 2017). Particularly in environments where family ownership is ubiquitous, the importance of the board of directors is exacerbated (Bammens, Voordeckers, & Van Gils, 2011; Samara & BerbegalMirabent, 2018; Samara, Jamali, Sierra, & Parada, 2018). If adequately structured, the board of directors can mitigate family-family and family-nonfamily conflicts of interests that typically constrain family business performance (Samara & Berbegal-Mirabent, 2018; Villalonga & Amit 2006). In this regard, the relationship between the presence of women on the board of directors and family business performance has attracted increased attention in the last decade (Campopiano, De Massis, Rinaldi, & Sciascia, 2017), partly because women are expected to gradually become more involved in leadership positions in the near future (Ernst & Young, 2017). Yet, the relationship between the presence of women directors and family businesses’ economic performance remains inconclusive with empirical results reporting both negative (Amran, 2011; Minguez-Vera & Martin, 2011) and positive effects (Cruz, Justo, & De Castro, 2012).