Corporate Reputation and Women on the Board
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8551.2008.00600.x |
| Author | Stephen Brammer,Stephen Pavelin,Andrew Millington |
| Published date | 01 March 2009 |
| Date | 01 March 2009 |
Corporate Reputation and Women on the
Board
Stephen Brammer, Andrew Millington and Stephen Pavelin
1
University of Bath and
1
Economics Department, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AH, UK
Corresponding author email: s.pavelin@reading.ac.uk
In this paper, we investigate the determinants of corporate reputation, derived from the
assessments of managers and market analysts, of a sample of large UK firms. Along
with the influences of a variety of firm attributes, we find a reputational effect associated
with a female presence at board level. This effect varies across sectors and demonstrates
the influence of a firm’s stakeholder environment in determining whether a female
presence on the board enhances or harms the reputation of the firm. The pattern that
emerges indicates that the presence of women on the board is favourably viewed in only
those sectors that operate close to final consumers. We argue that the nature of this
effect reflects an imperative for equality of representation that highlights the need to
reflect gender diversity among customers.
Introduction
Corporate reputation, defined as ‘a perceptual
representation of a company’s past actions and
future prospects that describe the firm’s overall
appeal to all its key constituents when compared
to other leading rivals’ (Fombrun, 1996, p. 72),
has attracted a significant amount of recent
attention in the academic literature (Gardberg
and Fombrun, 2002; Kitchen and Laurence,
2003; MacMillan, Money and Downing, 2002;
Roberts and Dowling, 2002; Sabate and Puente,
2003; Turban and Cable, 2003; Wiedmann,
2002). Significant strands of this literature have
examined the meaning and measurement of
reputation (Fryxell and Wang, 1994; Gardberg
and Fombrun, 2002), its antecedents (Fombrun
and Shanley, 1990), and its impact on other
aspects of companies such as their ability to
attract customers and good quality employees
(Milgrom and Roberts, 1986; Turban and Cable,
2003). An important contribution by Fryxell and
Wang (1994) highlighted that reputational indices
(such as the Fortune ranking) are most closely
related to a firm’s reputation as a financial
investment (Fryxell and Wang, 1994), suggesting
a close link between external perceptions of the
overall effectiveness of an organization and its
reputation.
Diversity within organizations, principally in
respect of gender, has also been the subject of
considerable recent research with prominent
strands of research focusing on the challenges
involved in managing a diverse workforce
(Dass and Parker, 1999; Mollica and DeWitt,
1994), the impact of diversity on the performance
of teams and the individuals that compose them
(Bunderson and Sutcliffe, 2002; Harrison et al.,
2002; Jehn, Northcraft and Neale, 1999; Randel
and Jaussi, 2003), and the link between diversity
and organizational survival and performance
(Filatotchev and Toms, 2003). Of particular
interest here is the strand in the literature that
focuses upon the diversity of corporate boards of
directors (Bilimoria, 2000; Bilimoria and Piderit,
1994; Carter, Simkins and Simpson, 2003; Singh,
Vinnicombe and Johnson, 2001). This work
has illuminated the typically very low levels of
diversity present in corporate boards, which, it is
argued, represent both a breakdown of corporate
governance and a missed opportunity.
British Journal of Management, Vol. 20, 17–29 (2009)
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8551.2008.00600.x
r2008 British Academy of Management. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford
OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA, 02148, USA.
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