Do Malaysian Women Directors Create Corporate Value?

Women's contribution towards corporate value has received remarkable attention from researchers worldwide. However, the findings are inconclusive. As for Malaysia, this topic received the attention of many and has become more relevant after the government announced the policy of having at least 30% women at the decision making level in the corporate sector. In line with the implementation of the revised Code on Corporate Governance, this study is carried out to ascertain whether some specific characteristics of women directors improve firm value, particularly in terms of market value (Tobin's Q) and accounting performance (return on assets or ROA). Our findings reveal that women directors holding a university degree increase firms' ROA. This implies that tertiary education is important at transforming women to become effective business leaders, positions that are dominated by men. Further, our results indicate that bigger firms experience higher Tobin's Q while highly leveraged firms tend to have higher ROAs. Further studies may examine if the number of women on boards matters in enhancing firm value.