Women directors on boards of Australian Real Estate Investment Trusts
| Published date | 01 March 2013 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14635781311302609 |
| Date | 01 March 2013 |
| Pages | 196-207 |
| Author | William Dimovski,Luisa Lombardi,Barry Cooper |
| Subject Matter | Property management & built environment |
PRACTICE BRIEFING
Women directors on boards of
Australian Real Estate
Investment Trusts
William Dimovski, Luisa Lombardi and Barry Cooper
School of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Deakin University,
Geelong, Australia
Abstract
Purpose – This is the first paper which aims to investigate factors that might influence the gender
composition of boards of directors of Australian Real Estate Investment Trusts (A-REITs).
Design/methodology/approach – This study follows Mateos de Cabo, Gimeno and Nieto and the
gender diversity literature and investigates the existence and number of women directors on the
boards of directors of 37 A-REITs from 2006 to 2011.
Findings – There is evidence that larger (by market capitalization) A-REITs are more likely to
employ a woman director and that A-REITs with larger boards are more likely to employ a woman
director and indeed more women directors. It also appears that A-REITs whose head office is in
Sydney are more likely to employ a woman director and also more women directors.
Practical implications – Women seeking to be engaged as directors of A-REITs are more likely to
be employed by larger A-REITs (by market capitalization), those with larger boards and those located
in Sydney.
Originality/value – This paper adds to the existing literature on gender diversity by examining the
factors that appear to influence the employment of women on A-REIT Boards.
Keywords Women directors,Corporate governance, Australia,A-REITs, Real estate
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
In the last 20 years, there has been a growing volume of literature arguing that
companies would benefit substantially by engaging women on company boards of
directors (Burke, 1994, 1997, 2003; Bilimoria, 2000; Singh et al., 2001; Stephenson, 2004;
Farrell and Hersch, 2005; Van der Walt et al., 2006; Adams and Ferreira, 2009; Gul et al.,
2011). While some of the argument emphasizes the social justice dimension of engagi ng
women on boards, much of the argument presents a business case that suggests
women have a valuable knowledge of consumers, consumer markets and corporate
social responsibility, which can assist firms to perform better both financially and as
corporate citizens. There is some empirical evidence in Farrell and Hersch (2005) that
finds women do tend to serve on better financially performing boards and Gul et al.
(2011) suggest that more firm-specific information is reflected in the stock prices of
firms that have gender-diverse boards. They explain that this is because gender
diversity is positively linked with “[...] increasing voluntary public disclosures in
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1463-578X.htm
The authors would like to thank the Centre for Sustainable and Responsible Organisations at
Deakin University for helping to fund this project.
Journal of Property Investment &
Finance
Vol. 31 No. 2, 2013
pp. 196-207
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1463-578X
DOI 10.1108/14635781311302609
JPIF
31,2
196
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