Female board secretaries and stock price informativeness: evidence from China

This study investigates whether the gender of the board secretary, the legally mandated disclosure officer in Chinese listed firms, affects stock price informativeness (SPI). Drawing on Upper Echelons Theory, we posit that female board secretaries serve as superior information translators whose distinct communication styles and risk preferences reduce transmission friction between firms and capital markets. Using a comprehensive sample of Chinese A-share firms from 2010 to 2022, we find that firms with female board secretaries exhibit significantly higher SPI. To establish causality, we employ a staggered difference-in-differences design that accounts for heterogeneous treatment timing across firms. The dynamic treatment effects confirm clean pre-treatment trends and a significant positive impact peaking in the first year following male-to-female transitions. A reverse female-to-male transition yields no significant effect, supporting a causal interpretation. We document two channels: female secretaries enhance the quality of analyst communication and strengthen the credibility of internal governance. Heterogeneity analyses reveal that the effect is most pronounced when the secretary possesses financial expertise, serves in environments characterized by opacity, intense investor attention, or weak institutional infrastructure, and works in high-tech industries where information complexity and the demands on the disclosure role are greatest.