Áhrif kynjakvóta á stjórnarbrag að mati stjórnarmanna

Iceland is one of the nations that has passed a gender quota law for private and public corporate boards. The effects of this law on board effectiveness are currently under-researched. The objective of this study is to explore the opinions of active directors regarding if and how board effectiveness has been affected by the increased gender diversity on boards. The director’s attitude towards board decision-making and monitoring activities are researched, as well as if corporate governance practices have improved in their opinion. Data was collected in 2014, one year after the gender quota legislation came into effect, and hence the measures capture directors’ perception of the first effects. A total of 244 directors answered an online questionnaire, of which 41% were female directors. Results show that male directors were more negative in their views towards the gender quota legislation when it was passed by the legislator, but both females and males are more positive one year after the legislation took effect. Results show that directors reported that more viewpoints are now being discussed at the board table and that there have been some improvements in the decision-making process. When it comes to the monitoring role of the board, it is board directors, female directors, and those who had more positive attitudes towards the legislation that report improvements in CEO monitoring. Directors report improvement in overall corporate governance. Finally, the results show significant differences in the attitudes of the chair of the board vs. directors, when it comes to the monitoring role of the board, with chairs reporting more improvement. In addition, female directors consistently are significantly more of the opinion than male directors, that board effectiveness has improved after the legislation was passed.