Corporate Governance and Financial Performance: The Interplay of Board Gender Diversity and Intellectual Capital

Prior research has found mixed evidence regarding the relationships between board gender diversity (BGD) and firm value. Moreover, there is a lack of evidence on the channels through which BGD affects firm performance; hence, this paper tackles this issue. We aim to investigate the relationship between BGD and firm performance and to explore the mediating role of intellectual capital efficiency (ICE) in this relationship. Using a multivariate regression analysis and a sample of 4008 North American firms from 2002 to 2020 (14,382 firm-year observations), we find that gender diversity is positively related to financial performance, confirming that a diversified board improves board effectiveness and brings new resources to the firm, which allows it to improve its performance. More interestingly, the results of the Structural Equation Model (SEM) indicate that the relationship between gender diversity and performance is more pronounced with the mediating role of ICE. Our results are robust, controlling for the endogeneity and heteroscedasticity issues, with several controls for firm- and country-level characteristics, using alternative sample compositions and alternative econometric techniques, and including year, industry, country and firm-fixed effects. Interestingly, this paper shows strong evidence that the effect of BGD on firm value is more effective by incorporating the role of intellectual capital efficiency

Biochar application mitigates salt stress on maize plant: Study of the agronomic parameters, photosynthetic activities and biochemical attributes

Climate change had caused many threats soil ecosystem, among them, soil salinity. Thus several strategies are suggested to mitigate this issue. In this context, biochar is known as a potent amendment able to alleviate the salt stress on the crops. Thus, the aim of the present investigation is to assess the impact of two salt levels (C1: 1.25 and C2: 2.5 g l−1) and two biochar rates (B1:50 g kg−1; B2: 100 g kg−1) on the agronomic, biochemical and physiological responses of maize plants (Zea mays L.). Our results revealed firstly an increase in maize biomass under salinity stress and in presence of 50g of biochar, indicating the important role of biochar in mitigating salt toxicity. Also, B1 biochar rate attenuated salt-induced oxidative stress by increasing glutathion-S-transferase (GST) and catalase (CAT) activities. Also, biochar increased chlorophyll b (Chlb) in plants treated with salt water. Overall, it can be concluded that biochar may be a useful strategy to reduce the harmful effects of salinity. However, biochar rates must be carefully used in saline soils to ameliorate plant development and reduce the toxicity of salt stress