Abstract:
Purpose/Significance “Female power”, represented by female CFOs, plays an increasingly active role in the process of corporate decision-making. With the increasing call of capital market for financial listed companies to enhance the transparency of intellectual capital information, how do female CFOs with risk aversion and high moral standards affect financial companies’ decision-making on the disclosure of intellectual capital information is undoubtedly a real problem that needs to be solved urgently. Design/Methodology Using China’s financial A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2016 as the research subject, this paper establishes the intellectual capital disclosure index (ICDI) by utilizing the disclosure of data of manual-collected intellectual capital information, and empirically investigates the relationship between female CFOs and intellectual capital information disclosure behaviors and the moderating effect of nature of property rights and product market competition on such relation. Findings/Conclusions The results show that (1) in recent years, China’s financial listed companies pay more and more attention to intellectual capital information, and the level of disclosure indicates an obvious upward trend. (2) Female CFOs significantly improve the level of intellectual capital information disclosure. That is to say, compared with male CFOs, female CFOs are more risk-averse and have higher moral standards, disclosing more intellectual capital information. (3) The nature of property rights and product market competition play a significant positive moderating effect in the relationship between female CFOs and intellectual capital information disclosure. That is, female CFOs in state-controlled companies and fierce market competition environment can more effectively increase intellectual capital disclosure than those in non-state-controlled companies and less competitive environment. Further research also shows that intellectual capital information disclosure of financial companies can significantly enhance corporate market value and reduce information asymmetry. The multi-dimensional conclusions can provide useful enlightenment for guiding and standardizing intellectual capital information disclosure of China’s financial companies, thereby creating a more female-friendly inclusive environment for the cultivation of senior executives.