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Gender Differences in Executives’ Access to Information

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2017

A. Can Inci ,
M. P. Narayanan  and
H. Nejat Seyhun
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Abstract

We provide novel evidence on gender differences in insider-trading behavior and the profitability of senior corporate executives. On average, both female and male executives make positive profits from insider trading. Males, however, earn significantly more than females in equivalent positions and also trade more than females. These gender differences disappear when we limit the sample to firms in which female trading is relatively high. Collectively, these results suggest that female executives have a disadvantage relative to males in access to inside information, even if they have equal formal status, and informal networks may play an important role in attenuating this disadvantage.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis , Volume 52 , Issue 3 , June 2017 , pp. 991 - 1016
Copyright
Copyright © Michael G. Foster School of Business, University of Washington 2017 

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Footnotes

1

We thank Paul Malatesta (the editor) and Alessandro Previtero (the referee) for extensive comments and suggestions that have benefited the paper. We also thank Wayne Baker, Brad Barber, Sugato Bhattacharyya, David Hess, David Louton, Paolo Pasquariello, Amiyatosh Purnanandam, Gretchen Spreitzer, James Westphal, Frank Yates, and seminar and conference participants at the 2013 Financial Management Association meetings, the 2013 European Financial Management Association meetings, City University of London, KU Leuven, Özyeğin University, and Boğaziçi University for useful comments and discussions. This is a substantially revised version of, and supersedes, the paper titled “Are Women Executives Disadvantaged?”

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