Companies wishing to perform better and cut their risk of bankruptcy should have more female directors on their board of directors.
Women's abilities to make fair decisions when competing interests are at stake make them better corporate leaders, researchers have found.
A survey of more than 600 board directors showed that women are more likely to consider the rights of others and take a cooperative approach to decision-making. This approach translates into better performance for their companies.
The study, published this week in the International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, also found that male directors prefer to make decisions using rules, regulations and traditional ways of doing business.
Female directors, on the other hand, are less constrained by these parameters and more prepared to use initiative than male colleagues.
In addition, female directors - who, globally, make up around nine percent of corporate boards - are significantly more inclined to make decisions by taking the interests of multiple stakeholders into account in order to arrive at a fair decision.
They also tend to use cooperation, collaboration and consensus-building more often - and more effectively - in order to make sound decisions.
The study was conducted by Chris Bart, professor of strategic management at the DeGroote School of Business at Canada's McMaster University, and Gregory McQueen, a McMaster graduate and senior executive associate dean at A.T. Still University's School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona.
Bart said: 'We've known for some time that companies that have more women on their boards have better results.
'Our findings show that having women on the board is no longer just the right thing but also the smart thing to do. Companies with few female directors may actually be shortchanging their investors.'
那些希望提升业绩和降低破产风险的公司应该在董事会中增加女董事的比例。
研究人员发现，在竞争利益受到威胁时，女性能做出公平的决定，这使她们能更好地领导公司。
一项涵盖了600多名董事的调查显示，女性会更多地考虑他人的权益，在决策时更可能采取合作的态度。这种态度会让公司运作得更好。
本周发表在《国际企业管理和道德期刊》上的这一研究还发现，男董事更喜欢运用法规和传统经商方法来做出决策。
而女董事则比较不会被这些因素束缚，她们比男董事更具有首创精神。
此外，女董事更显著地倾向于在做决定时考虑各个股东的利益，从而做出更公平的决策。全球范围内公司董事会中女董事的比例约为9%。
她们还会更多也更有效地采取合作、协作和建立共识的态度，以做出正确的决策。
该研究是由加拿大麦克马斯特大学德格鲁特商学院战略管理学教授克里斯•巴特和美国亚利桑那州的A •T•斯蒂尔大学骨科医学院的高级执行副院长、毕业于麦克马斯特大学的格雷戈里•麦奎因联合开展的。
巴特说：“我们早前就已经了解到，那些董事会中有更多女董事的公司业绩更好。
“我们的研究结果显示，在董事会中增加女性成员不再只是正确的决定，而且还是明智的决定。那些女董事太少的公司也许实际上正在忽悠投资人。”