board diversity significantly curbs excessive risk taking It's tough to find a board less diverse than an oil and gas companies.
"Research from Ya-Wen Yang at Wake Forest
UniversitySchool of Business and two colleagues recently
found that corporations with more diverse boards of directors
were less prone to take risks and more likely to pay dividends
to stockholders than firms with largely homogenous boards.
Yang and her colleagues looked at more than 2,000 publicly
traded companies over a 13-year period. She says they found
“clear and convincing evidence that board diversity significantly
curbs excessive risk taking.” And although much of the
discussion today about board diversity is focused on gender,
Yang’s research used a broader definition, one that included
gender, race, age, experience, tenure and expertise. Firms with
diverse boards were more likely to pay dividends--and to pay
higher dividends per share--than corporations with less diverse
boards."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/elenabajic/2015/08/11/why
-companies-need-to-build-more-diverse-boards/#be3efaf662c9