The relationship between gender diversity, independence and professional training on the Board of Directors and the financial performance of sanitation companies in Brazil
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21680/2176-9036.2026v18n2ID39612Keywords:
Gender diversity, Board of Directors, Financial Performance, Sanitation CompaniesAbstract
Purpose: This study aims to analyze the relationships between diversity in Boards of Directors - considering aspects of gender, independence, and professional training - and the financial performance of Brazilian sanitation companies listed on B3, from 2010 to 2023.
Methodology: The research is quantitative and documentary in nature. Data were collected from reference forms available on the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) website and the Comdinheiro.com platform. The population consisted of 9 Brazilian companies in the sanitation sector. To measure financial performance, the variables ROE, ROA, ROIC, EBITDA Margin, and Net Margin were used; board characteristics were operationalized through gender, independence, and professional training variables. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed as the data analysis technique.
Results: The results showed that, regardless of year and asset size, board diversity has a positive and statistically significant effect on financial performance (β = 0.158; p = 0.047), indicating that more diverse boards contribute to greater efficiency and quality in strategic decision-making, reflected in better organizational and financial outcomes, as measured by indicators such as ROE, ROA, and ROIC.
Contributions of the Study: The study innovates by jointly analyzing three dimensions of diversity — gender, independence, and professional training — in an underexplored sector in the national literature, namely sanitation. The findings provide relevant insights for managers and regulators regarding the improvement of corporate governance practices aligned with ESG criteria, potentially assisting companies in composing more strategically effective boards and attracting investment.
Downloads
References
ADAMS, R. B.; FERREIRA, Daniel. (2007). A Theory of Friendly Boards. The Journal of Finance, v. 62, n. 1, p. 217-250, fev. Disponível em: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1540-6261.2007.01206.x. Acesso em: 14 jan. 2025.
ADAMS, R. B.; FERREIRA, Daniel. (2009). Women in the boardroom and their impact on governance and performance. The Journal of Finance, v. 94, n. 2, p. 291-309. Disponível em: https://personal.lse.ac.uk/ferreird/gender.pdf. Acesso em: 14 jan. 2025.
AMARAL, H. F.; CORREIA, Laise. (2009). A eficiência do Conselho de Administração como mecanismo de controle dos custos de agência. Anais Do Congresso Brasileiro De Custos.. Disponível em: https://anaiscbc.emnuvens.com.br/anais/article/view/1048. Acesso em: 14 jan. 2025.
ANDERSON, R. E. et al. (2005). Análise multivariada de dados. 5ª edição. Porto Alegre: Bookman.
ATTY, A. M . A.; MOUSTAFASOLIMAN, Mohamed; YOUSSEF, A. (2018). E. The Effect of Board of Directors Characteristics on Firm’s Financial Performance: An Empirical Study on the Most Active Firms in the Egyptian Stock Exchange. doi: https://doi.org?10.4236/oalib.1104993.
BAKER, H. K. et al. (2020). A bibliometric analysis of board diversity: Current status, development, and future research directions. Journal of Business Research, v. 108, p. 232-246.. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.11.025
BHAGAT, Sanjai; BLACK, B.S. (2001). The Non-Correlation Between Board Independence and Long-Term Firm Performance, Journal of Corporation Law, p. 231-234. Disponível em: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=133808. Acesso em: 14 jan. 2025. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.133808
BRYMAN, Alan. (2016). Social Research Methods. 5th edition. London: Oxford University Press.
CAMPBELL, Kevin; VERA, A.M. (2008). Gender Diversity in the Boardroom and Firm Financial Performance. Journal of Business Ethics, v. 83, n. 3, p. 435-451. Disponível em: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-007-9630-y. Acesso em: 14 jan. 2025.
CARTER, D. A.; SIMKINS, B. J.; SIMPSON, W. G. (2003). Corporate Governance, Board Diversity, and Firm Value. The Financial Review, v. 38, n. 1, p. 33-53. Disponível em: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/. Acesso em: 14 jan. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-6288.00034.
COLES, J. L.; DANIEL, N. D.; NAVEEN, Lalitha. (2008). Boards: Does one size fit all?. Journal of Financial Economics, v. 87, n. 2, p. 329-356. Disponível em: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304405X07001821. Acesso em: 14 jan. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2006.08.008.
CRESWELL, J. W. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. 4th edition. SAGE Publications.
DA SILVEIRA, A. D. M.; DONAGGIO, A. R. F. (2019). A importância da diversidade de gênero nos conselhos de administração para a promoção da responsabilidade social corporativa. DESC - Direito, Economia e Sociedade Contemporânea, v. 2, n. 2, p. 11-42. Disponível em: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339424181_A_importancia_da_diversidade_de_genero_nos_conselhos_de_administracao_para_a_promocao_da_responsabilidade_social_corporativa. Acesso em: 15 jan. 2025. https://doi.org/10.33389/desc.v2n2.2019.p11-42
DIAS, V. F. M. B.; MALAQUIAS, R. F.; LOPES, J. E. F. (2023). Presença de Mulheres no Conselho de Administração e Retorno de Ações: um estudo de eventos no mercado brasileiro. Revista Catarinense da Ciência Contábil, v. 22, n. 1, p. 0-0. https://doi.org/10.16930/2237-766220233350
DIAS, V. F. M. B.; MALAQUIAS, R. F.; LOPES, J. E. F. (2024). Composição do conselho de administração e pagamento de dividendos: o papel da diversidade de gênero e da idade dos membros do conselho. Revista Mineira de Contabilidade, v. 25, n. 2, p. 44-55. https://doi.org/10.51320/rmc.v25i2.1564
DOS SANTOS, A. de C.; ARAGAKI, C. (2006). A Importância do Conselho de Administração em Empresas Familiares de Capital Fechado. Redeca: Revista Eletrônica do Departamento de Ciências Contábeis & Departamento de Atuária e Métodos Quantitativos, São Paulo, v. 2, n. 1, p. 65-85. https://doi.org/10.23925/2446-9513.2015v2i1p65-85
ERHARDT, N. L., WERBEL, J. D.; SHRADER, C. B. (2003). Board of director diversity and firm financial performance. Corporate Governance: An International Review, v. 11, n. 2, p. 102-111.. Disponível em: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com. Acesso em: 15 jan. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8683.00011.
FORBES, D. P.; MILLIKEN, F. J. (1999). Cognition and Corporate Governance: Understanding Boards of Directors as Strategic Decision-Making Groups. Academy of Management Review, v. 24, n. 3, p. 489-505. Disponível em: https://www.jstor.org/stable/259138. Acesso em: 15 jan. 2025.
FRAGA, J. B.; SILVA, V. A. B. (2012). Diversidade no conselho de administração e desempenho da empresa: uma investigação empírica. Brazilian Business Review, v. 9, n. Especial, p. 58-80. Disponível em: https://www.bbronline.com.br/index.php/bbr/article/download/326/492. Acesso em: 15 jan. 2025. http://dx.doi.org/10.15728/bbrconf.2012.3
FREEMAN, R. E. (1994). The politics of stakeholder theory: Some future directions. Business Ethics Quarterly, v. 4, p. 409-422. Disponível em: http://www.sogra.pt/ficheiros_artigos%5Cstk.pdf. Acesso em: 15 jan. 2025.
FUNDO LIDERADO POR MULHERES APOSTA EM REFORMAS ESG EM EMERGENTES. (2020). Bloomberg,. Disponível em: https://www.infomoney.com.br/onde-investir/fundo-liderado-por-mulheres-aposta-em-reformas-esg-em-emergentes/. Acesso em: 14 jan. 2025.
HERMALIN, B. E.; WEISBACH, M. S. (2023). Boards of directors as an endogenously determined institution: A survey of the economic literature. Economic Policy Review, v. 9, n. 1, p. 7-26. Disponível em: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=794804. Acesso em: 15 jan. 2025. https://doi.org/10.3386/w8161
JENSEN, M. C.; MECKLING, W. H. (1976). Theory of the firm: managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure. Journal of Financial Economics, v. 3, n. 4, p. 305-360. Disponível em: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0304405X7690026X. Acesso em: 15 jan. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(76)90026-X.
JUNIOR, E. B. L. et al. (2021). Análise documental como percurso metodológico na pesquisa qualitativa. Cadernos da Fucamp, v. 20, n. 44, p. 36-51.
KANG, H.; CHENG, M.; GRAY, S. J. (2007). Corporate Governance and Board Composition: Diversity and Independence of Australian Boards. Corporate Governance: An International Review, v. 15, n. 2, p. 194-207. Acesso: 15 jan. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8683.2007.00554.x
LIU, Yu; WEI, Zuobao; XIE, Feixue. (2014). Do women directors improve firm performance in China?. Journal of Corporate Finance, v. 28, p. 169-184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2013.11.016
MILLER, Toyah; TRIANA, M. D. M. (2009). Demographic Diversity in the Boardroom: Mediators of the Board Diversity–Firm Performance Relationship. Journal of Management Studies, v. 46, n. 5, p. 755-786. Disponível em: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/. Acesso em: 15 jan. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2009.00839.x
PEREIRA, M. T.; BARROS, C. M. E. (2023). Influência da sobrecarga do conselho de administração no valor de mercado e desempenho de empresas brasileiras de capital aberto. Revista Enfoque: Reflexão Contábil, v. 42, n. 3, p. 146-167. Disponível em: https://periodicos.uem.br/ojs/index.php/Enfoque/article/view/57505. Acesso em: 15 jan. 2025. https://doi.org/10.4025/enfoque.v42i3.57505
POST, Corinne; RAHMAN, Noushi; RUBOW, Emily. (2011). Green Governance: Boards of Directors’ Composition and Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility. Business & Society, v. 50, n. 1, p. 189-223. Disponível em: https://philpapers.org/rec/POSGGB. Acesso em: 16 jan. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1177/0007650310394642.
SANTOS, J. E. S. (2023). Desempenho e concentração acionária no Brasil: As características dos conselhos de administração podem interferir nesta relação?. BASE - Revista de Administração e Contabilidade da UNISINOS, v. 20, n. 2, p. 1781-1806. https://doi.org/10.4013/base.2023.202.06
SUTTO, Giovanna. (2020). XP Inc. se compromete a ter 50% de mulheres em todos os níveis hierárquicos atι 2025. InfoMoney. Carreira. Disponível em: https://www.infomoney.com.br/carreira/xp-inc-se-compromete-a-ter-50-de-mulheres-em-seu-quadro-de-funcionarios-ate-2025/. Acesso em: 15 jan. 2025.
YERMACK, David. (1996). Higher Market Valuation of Companies with a Small Board of Directors. Journal of Financial Economics, New York, v. 40, n. 2, p. 185-211. Disponível em: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0304405X95008445. Acesso em: 16 jan. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(95)00844-5
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 REVISTA AMBIENTE CONTÁBIL - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in this magazine agree with the following terms:
Authors keep the copyrights and concede the right of its first publication to the magazine. The work piece must be simultaneously licensed on the Creative Commons Attribution Licence which allows the paper sharing, and preserves both the author identity and the right of first publication to this magazine.
Authors are authorized to assume additional contracts separately, to not-exclusively distribution of the paper version published in this magazine (e.g.: publish in institutional repository or as a book chapter), with the author identity recognition and its first publication in this magazine.
Authors are permitted and stimulated to publish and distribute their papers online (e.g.: in institutional repository or on their personal webpage), considering it can generate productive alterations, as well as increase the impact and the quotations of the published paper.
Creative Commons - Atribuição-NãoComercial-SemDerivações 4.0 Internacional.
Português (Brasil)
English
Español (España)
