Men are from Mars, women are from Venus: on lenders’ stereotypical views and the implications for a firm’s debt

Building on social construction theory, this paper investigates how the presence of women on the board may affect access to credit because of lenders’ gender-stereotyped views. In our view this translates into different levels of the firm's bank debt. To evaluate the impact of gender as a social construct, we designed a within-country analysis in Italy by distinguishing between egalitarian and non-egalitarian contexts. To test our hypotheses, we used a sample of 3514 Italian listed and unlisted firms. Results showed a lower level of bank debt for firms with a relevant number of women in the boardroom (i.e., critical mass) if located in a non-egalitarian context. This effect was partially mitigated in firms during a crisis situation. While extant research explains gender-based differences in a firm’s financial structure by a change in inner-board mechanism/dynamics caused by differences in men/women characteristics, we argue that the social construction of gender may also induce lenders in different contexts to view boards with women differently in relation to access to credit.