Board gender diversity, spillover effects on managerial training and firm performance

This study provides the framework and the methodological premises for studying the relevance of board gender diversity in firms’ decisions to engage in managerial training and the ultimate effect on firm performance. Results will be based on a unique, manually compiled panel dataset of 12234 listed and non-listed Italian firms observed from 2010 to 2018: we expect that having more women on the board enhances the likelihood that firms invest in managerial education, especially for women, and that this leads to higher performance in terms of productivity. The paper will contribute to the evidence that board diversity matters to firm value by influencing the decision-making process and the accumulation of managerial human capital.