Do activist hedge funds target female CEOs? The role of CEO gender in hedge fund activism

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Francis, Bill B.; Hasan, Iftekhar; Shen, Yinjie (Victor); Wu, Qiang
• 署名单位: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Fordham University; Bank of Finland; University of Sydney; University System of Ohio; Cleveland State University; Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-405X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2020.07.019
• 发表日期: 2021
• 页码: 372-393
• 关键词: HEDGE FUND ACTIVISM; Female CEOs; Transformational leadership style; Collaborative communication; COOPERATION

摘要

Using a comprehensive US hedge fund activism dataset from 2003 to 2018, we find that ac-tivist hedge funds are about 52% more likely to target firms with female CEOs compared to firms with male CEOs. We find that firm fundamentals, the existence of a glass cliff, gen -der discrimination bias, and hedge fund activists' inherent characteristics do not explain the observed gender effect. We also find that the transformational leadership style of fe -male CEOs is a plausible explanation for this gender effect: instead of being self-defensive, female CEOs are more likely to communicate and cooperate with hedge fund activists to achieve intervention goals. Finally, we find that female-led targets experience greater in-creases in market and operational performance subsequent to hedge fund targeting. (c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.