Women on boards: a qualitative inquiry of the antecedents and barriers to board gender diversity in developing countries (Advert Ref: RDF18/AFM/SOROUR)

The board of directors is a fundamental element of effective corporate governance practices, with the extant literature showing that board diversity can enhance the effectiveness of such practices (Terjesen et. al., 2009). For example, Nielsen and Huse (2010) argue that boards with higher ratios of women directors have more effective strategic control, higher board development activities and decreased level of conflict. However, the extant literature also documents issues and challenges do exist on both supply and demand sides inhibiting the realisation of diversity, especially regarding women board participation. Gabaldon et. al. (2016) demonstrate in their award winning article that the supply side barriers can include gender differences in values and attitudes, identification with gender role expectations, work-family conflict, while, the demand side barriers can include issues such as gender discrimination, biased perceptions of what women may bring to the board and institutional environment barriers. The latter would include cultural as well as legal issues (Grosvold and Brammer, 2011).
Although there are instruments and policies devised to address this issue especially in developed countries, the transferability and effectiveness of such policies in developed countries context can be questioned on the grounds of peculiarity of such context. Also, the view that corporate governance is a socially constructed phenomenon makes a one size fits all solution less plausible in developing countries contexts, where the institutional environment within the national business environment and beyond i.e. national culture, can have unique implications on corporate governance and board diversity practices and challenges. Hence, addressing these issues should be based on careful consideration of the context in which corporate governance is embedded (Sorour and Howell, 2013; Letza et al., 2008). Here, a recent survey shows that women participation in boards is quite low in developing/emerging countries with percentages of board’s seats held by women being as low as 3.7% in Indonesia, 7.7% in India and 6.3% in Brazil (Deloitte, 2014) let alone countries with no reliable data about this matter. Thus, this project heeds the call to explore the antecedents and barriers to an effective participation of women on boards in developing and emerging countries (Gabaldon et al., 2016).
Using an appropriate theoretical underpinning, the research will explore the antecedents and barriers to women participation on boards in developing/emerging countries context using both primary and secondary data and following an interpretive approach relevant to the project. Applications should discuss through a research proposal how this theme would be researched, and highlight how access to research participants is expected to be managed.

Eligibility and How to Apply
Please note eligibility requirement:
• Academic excellence of the proposed student i.e. 2:1 (or equivalent GPA from non-UK universities [preference for 1st class honours]); or a Masters (preference for Merit or above); or APEL evidence of substantial practitioner achievement.
• Appropriate IELTS score, if required.
• Applicants cannot apply for this funding if currently engaged in Doctoral study at Northumbria or elsewhere.

For further details of how to apply, entry requirements and the application form, see
https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/research/postgraduate-research-degrees/how-to-apply/

Please note: Applications that do not include a research proposal of approximately 1,000 words (not a copy of the advert), or that do not include the advert reference (e.g. RDF18/…) will not be considered.

Deadline for applications: 28 January 2018
Start Date: 1 October 2018

Northumbria University takes pride in, and values, the quality and diversity of our staff. We welcome applications from all members of the community. The University holds an Athena SWAN Bronze award in recognition of our commitment to improving employment practices for the advancement of gender equality and is a member of the Euraxess network, which delivers information and support to professional researchers