Does a balanced gender ratio improve performance? The case of Spanish banks (1999-2010)

The purpose of this paper is to identify the dynamics of the gender diversity-to-performance relationship in the Spanish banking sector in the period 1999-2010. Specifically the authors try to study how different proportions of men and women in banking institutions lead to different levels of return on assets (ROA) and sales productivity.

The authors use conventional panel data methods to find an optimal mix of males and females which leads to higher levels of financial results. With the aim of controlling unobserved heterogeneity, equations are estimated using the random-effects model.

The findings show that the proportion of women in the workforce does not affect productivity but significantly explains ROA. In addition low-moderated levels (27 per cent) of women in technical positions optimize ROA.

This research empirically explores the business case for gender diversity going beyond the upper echelons of organizations. The authors also study how the technical qualification of employees can determine the optimal proportion of gender groups.