Women in C-suite: Does Top Management Team gender diversity matter? Evidence from firm investment efficiency

Firms with relatively more female executives in their top management team exhibit superior investment efficiency. Economically, female non-CEO executives increase investment efficiency by almost 11 % of the crosssectional mean of our investment efficiency measure. Further analysis shows that this increase in efficiency is driven by the reduction in both overinvestment and underinvestment. In addition, efficiency is more pronounced in less competitive markets, during industry shock periods, and in firms with less competent or outsider CEOs. Our findings highlight that women in C-suite play a significant positive role in effective investment decisionmaking.