Female CEOs and investment efficiency in the Vietnamese market

• Main Authors: SONG, Jun Myung, CHUNG, Chune Young
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2023
• Subjects: Female CEOs; Vietnam; Gender; Stereotype; Asian Studies; Corporate Finance; Leadership Studies; Strategic Management Policy
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/skbi/31; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/skbi/article/1030/viewcontent/Female_CEOs_av.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

This paper proposes female CEOs’ overconfidence and risky behavior stem from gender stereotype threats. Using two subsamples from Vietnam—firms in the Northern and Southern regions—we empirically show that female CEOs in the North, where there is less gender stereotyping, tend to overinvest relative to male CEOs. However, in the South, they are indifferent. Additional analysis reinforces the main finding that female CEOs in the North tend to take more risks even when dealing with market volatility and uncertainty (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic). Such risky behaviors do not deteriorate firm value but, instead, possibly improve firm performance.