The literature on gender diversity on corporate boards is growing, yet firms' motivation for achieving such diversity remains underexplored. This study examines the potential objective behind appointing female directors that could be driven by organizational impression management based on the hypothesis that firms strategically propose to nominate female directors when they need to form a favorable impression to their stakeholders, especially in relation to executive compensation. This study analyzed annual shareholders meeting agendas for 3585 listed Japanese firms between 2011 and 2020 and found that firms placed female director appointments on the meeting agenda when they needed approval for the revision of executive compensation. This tendency was strengthened for firms with more outside directors. This study's approach and findings contribute to the literature on corporate board gender diversity by suggesting organizational impression management as a potential strategic motivation behind the appointment of female directors.

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组织印象管理董事会的性别多样性：对日本公司的实证研究

关于公司董事会性别多样性的文献越来越多，但公司实现这种多样性的动机仍未得到充分探索。本研究探讨了任命女性董事背后的潜在目标，该目标可能由组织印象管理驱动，基于这样的假设，即当公司需要为利益相关者形成良好印象时，特别是在高管薪酬方面，公司战略性地提议提名女性董事。本研究分析了 2011 年至 2020 年间 3585 家日本上市公司的年度股东大会议程，发现当需要批准修改高管薪酬时，公司会将女性董事任命列入会议议程。这种趋势在拥有更多外部董事的公司中得到了加强。这项研究'