Does Boardroom Gender Diversity Affect Firm Financial Performance? : A quantitative study surveying 32 Swedish companies over the years 2011-2014

Sammanfattning: The board of directors holds a key position in corporate governance. The board is responsible for the strategy and development of the firm. The gender composition of the board can affect the quality of this operating procedure by changing the dynamic of the group. This paper aims to investigate if there is any relationship between board gender diversity and the firm’s financial performance, as measured by Tobin’s Q. While most of the previous studies in this field has been conducted on US data, this study adds to a growing number of articles outside of the US by using Swedish data. The study uses panel data over the years 2011-2014 and finds no statistically significant link between gender diversity and a firm’s financial performance. This study adds to the minority of articles that argue that gender diversity does not affect performance. Limitations regarding the methodology is presented and strategies for future research is discussed.