Board feminization and innovation through corporate venture capital investments: the moderating effect of independence and management skills
Résumé
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between board feminization and corporate venture capital (CVC) investments as well as the moderating effect of independence and management skills on this relationship. This study relies on a set of unique data to measure CVC activity for all French listed companies which undertook a CVC strategy between 2000 and 2018. We find that the appointment of female independent directors impede CVC investments, whereas female directors with management backgrounds enhance such investments. Our findings are robust to alternative measures of board feminization. Overall, our results enrich the debate on the usefulness of these innovation financing vehicles for the French economy.