Maung, Min2024-06-1920242024-052024-06-19May 2024https://hdl.handle.net/10388/15772In recent years, corporate board diversity has become a global priority, driven largely by the recognition that women have unique perspectives, and skills and their contributions can increase the performance and integrity of organizations. Despite increasing governmental and regulatory initiatives for promoting gender diversity, progress remains sluggish, and highlights the need for a deeper understanding of the factors influencing diversity within corporate boardrooms. This study explores the role of social trust and tolerance in shaping board gender diversity across 67 countries from 2003 to 2022. My findings highlight the significant impact of social attitudes on board gender composition and reveal that countries characterized by higher levels of social trust and social tolerance have more gender-diverse boards. Furthermore, this analysis highlights that trust has a more significant and pronounced impact on board gender diversity than social tolerance. These results are robust to the inclusion of board gender quota, Hofstede cultural dimensions, and a range of economic and country-level controls.application/pdfenBoard gender diversity, Social trust, Social tolerance, Institutional theory, Social norm, Culture.Thesis2024-06-19