From Church Leadership to Firm Leadership: Religion of Early State Residents, State Institutions, and Present-Day Corporate Female Executives
研究美国各州早期居民的新教信仰如何通过州宪法影响当代企业女性高管比例，发现新教盛行程度与女性领导力正相关，而天主教移民作为反印记削弱了这一效应。
I argue that early residents of a U.S. state have left imprints in the state constitution to reflect their religious preferences. Such imprints help explain the varying constitutions across U.S. states, which in turn affect the present-day female representation in corporate leadership. Analyzing a firm-level data set supplemented by a state-level sample and extensive robustness checks, I find that the prevalence of Protestantism at the time of a U.S. state’s admission to the Union is positively related to female representation in the leadership teams of S&P 1500 firms. One mechanism for the persistence of the Protestant imprinting is state constitutions’ emphasis on equality issues. In addition, the historical Catholic immigration to different states, serving as a counter-imprinting force, has weakened this effect. My study contributes to imprinting theory by considering dynamics and developing a regional-level institutional imprinting perspective. I also contribute to a more nuanced understanding of historical antecedents and contemporary firm consequences of subnational institutions, tracing the persistent heterogeneities among firms to some deep historical roots.