VD-bytets påverkan på aktiekursen : En studie ur ett genusperspektiv

In the last decades the Swedish labor market has been characterized by a stereotype perception on women’s role and position on the market. The perception speaks of the characteristics of female leadership as being less qualified causing the gaps between the two genders to transform into a gender segregated society. The historically slow progress has limited the career opportunities for women to reach top management. However the increasing discussions during the 21st century on how to reduce the gender differences in the labor market has made it more acceptable with women on higher positions. Despite of that there is still a lack of women representing top management position on the Swedish labor market today. According to the efficient market hypothesis, financial assets have the ability to adapt and reflect on all available information in consideration of the price. According to the theory this means that the announcement of CEO succession doesn’t have an effect on the share price. In contradiction previous studies show that there is a correlation between published information and share prices. The aim of this paper is to examine how CEO successions effect share prices and wheatear there are differences in how the price is affected by the succession of male or female CEO´s. The result of the study shows that there is a correlation between male and female CEO successions as confirmed by testing a hypothesis that also has rejected the efficient market hypothesis. What is significant in the study is the difference in reaction to the announcement of CEO succession between the two genders. Female CEO succession generates clear negative abnormal returns unlike male CEO succession generating positive abnormal returns. The study also indicates that female succession generates a clearly unstable share price during the estimated timeframe which can be clearly discerned from a relatively stable share price that can be observed from male successions. In conclusion, the study shows that there are differences between both genders furthermore indicating that the traditional and narrow minded view of women’s leadership is still anchored in the society