Drivers for Nominating First Women Executives: Empirical Evidence From Japanese Firms

Prior research on women in executive positions (WiE) has focused exclusively on the consequences of WiE by addressing how women executives influence firm strategy and performance, whereas little is known about the antecedents of WiE. However, to gain a comprehensive understanding of the overall impact of women executives on the firm, it is worthwhile to identify the triggers that prompt firms to appoint women executives for the first time. In this study, we have attempted to identify the antecedents of first appointments of women to executive teams (FAWE). On the basis of a theoretical frame incorporating the think crisis–think female perspective into the punctuated equilibrium model, we consider FAWE as the process of the transformational reform of an organization and examine the roles of three factors—firm performance (i.e., ROA and aspirational performance), environmental changes (i.e., industry dynamism, industry munificence, and industry complexity), and new CEO appointments—as antecedents of FAWE. We conducted a panel logistic regression analysis using 20 years of panel data (2000–2019) for Japanese listed firms. Our findings demonstrate that (1) poor firm performance (ROA and aspirational performance) was significantly related to the likelihood of FAWE in the subsequent year, and (2) a new CEO appointment was significantly related to the likelihood of FAWE in the subsequent year, whereas (3) hypotheses regarding environmental changes (industry dynamism, industry munificence, and industry complexity) were not confirmed. Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed, along with the study’s limitations and suggestions for future research.