The Impact of the Women’s Social Capital on the Board of Directors on the Financial Performance of Russian Companies

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of the share of female directors and their social capital in the boards of directors of Russian companies on the financial performance of firms. To achieve this goal, we use the database provided by the International Laboratory for the Economics of Intangible Assets. It contains information on Russian companies included in the MICEX BM index. The final sample includes 63 companies during the period from 2016 to 2019. Return on assets and Tobin's Q are used as financial indicators. This paper suggests that increasing the proportion of women on the Board, the proportion of women in multiple directorships, and the proportion of women in government positions will have a positive impact on return on assets and the Tobin Q. Based on the results of the study, we conclude that the social capital of female directors does not affect the financial performance of companies. We associate this result with the specifics of the Russian market and the small proportion of women in the Boards of Directors.