I blogged a few times last year (here and here) about a great symposium on corporate board diversity co-sponsored last year by Duke and UNC law schools and Duke Energy. The volume is now out in the North Carolina Law Review (exactly on schedule, good job UNC editors!) and contains some really interesting papers that are substantial contributions, not only to the research on corporate board diversity, but to research on diversity more generally. Below is the program, with links to all the papers. Many thanks to all the authors, commenters, attendees, and editors.
Dangerous Categories: Narratives of Corporate Board Diversity
Lissa L. Broome, John M. Conley, and Kimberly D. Krawiec
In this article, we report the results of a series of interviews with corporate directors about racial, ethnic, and gender diversity on corporate boards. On the one hand, our respondents were clear and nearly uniform in their statements that board diversity was an important goal worth pursuing. Yet when asked to provide examples or... »
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Frank Dobbin & Jiwook Jung
Women now make up a sixth of corporate board members in the Fortune 500. Some scholars suggest that women board members boost financial performance, and thus stock price, by making boards more effective. Indeed, early studies showed a correlation between women on boards and both profits and stock price. But more rigorous studies have suggested that... »
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Commentary: Puzzles About Corporate Boards and Board Diversity [Commentary]
Donald C. Langevoort
Those who seek greater gender or ethnic diversity on corporate boards of directors work under the self-imposed burden to show that board-level diversity adds value to the firm in some tangible way. In a perfect world, board diversity follows naturally from the fair distribution of talent and skill between the genders and among... »
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James A. Fanto, Lawrence M. Solan, and John M. Darley
In this Article, we point out that advocates for board diversity in public companies feel pressure to justify it in terms of its contribution to shareholder value. This pressure is not surprising, insofar as the dominant social identity of boards, which itself is partly a creation of the discipline of finance, views shareholder value... »
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The Mismatch Critique: Comment on Fanto, Solan, & Darley [Commentary]
Jerry Kang
James Fanto, Lawrence Solan, and John Darley build their paper, Justifying Board Diversity, on the basis of two essential claims—one legal, the other empirical. The legal claim is that existing law does not much constrain how corporate boards address the (lack of) diversity of their membership. The empirical claim is that board... »
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Board Diversity Revisited: New Rationale, Same Old Story?
Lisa M. Fairfax
Recently, board diversity advocates have relied on market- or economic-based rationales to convince corporate America to increase the number of women and people of color in the boardroom, in lieu of moral or social justifications. This shift away from moral or social justifications has been deliberate, and it stems from a belief that corporate... »
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Thomas Lee Hazen
Some observers suggest that diversity on corporate boards of directors will lead to new perspectives and hence better decision-making by the board. It would seem to follow that improved decision-making will lead to better corporate performance and thus presents a “business case” for increasing diversity on corporate boards. This essay explores the limits of... »
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Sung Hui Kim
In Grutter and Gratz (2003), the twin cases that challenged the University of Michigan’s affirmative action programs, corporate America praised educational diversity as a compelling interest. But as is well known, they did so not on social justice grounds but on the empirical claim that “diversity is good for business.” In particular, education in... »
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James E. Coleman, Jr.
During the Senate’s closed confirmation hearings on President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s nomination of George E. Wilson, President of General Motors, to be Secretary of Defense, a senator asked Wilson if he would be able to make decisions as Secretary of Defense that were adverse to General Motors’ interest. Wilson replied that he would,... »
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Patrick S. Shin & Mitu Gulati
Diversity initiatives are commonplace in today’s corporate America. Large and successful firms frequently tout their commitments to diversity, sometimes appointing women and racial minorities to highly visible posts, including seats on their boards of directors. Why would a profit-minded firm engage in such behavior? One frequently voiced explanation is that by creating such diversity,... »
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Showcasing: The Positive Spin [Commentary]
Katharine T. Bartlett
What do companies signal when they showcase female and minority members of their corporate boards? Not necessarily more, say Patrick Shin and Mitu Gulati, than that they understand that diversity is a socially significant issue, and that they can attract members of the showcased individual’s minority group, against whom they are then probably disinclined... »
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Diversity and Corporate Performance: A Review of the Psychological Literature
Jennifer K. Brooke & Tom R. Tyler
This Review examines two approaches to diversity management in the context of procedural justice theory: 1) maximizing the benefit of diversity in the workplace and 2) minimizing any potential harm. With regard to the former, this Review argues that the application of procedural justice theory will create conditions under which employees of all backgrounds... »
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The Milieu of the Boardroom and the Precinct of Employment [Commentary]
Deborah A. DeMott
This Commentary explores differences between employer-employee relationships and service on a board of directors. Against this backdrop, this Commentary argues that the research findings surveyed by Brooke and Tyler, although specific to the employment context, may be salient in assessing the impact of diversity among members of a board of directors. »
"Hotspot" the Lounge Chair that wams you!
Posted by: Dominik | April 03, 2011 at 07:43 AM