Despite women’s increasing participation in the labor force, their representation on corporate boards still lags that of men worldwide. This study examines how cross-border factors influence the appointments of female directors. We differentiate and contrast the effects of foreign ownership and exposure to host-country quota laws. We propose that while both factors can enhance women’s representation, foreign ownership, which represents shareholder influence, is more likely to prompt substantive changes. In contrast, exposure to host-country quota laws, which reflects stakeholder impact, is more likely to induce symbolic responses. We use women’s appointments as more influential directors versus less influential auditors to delineate substantive versus symbolic changes. By examining the appointment of women to these positions from 2005 to 2019 in Japanese public firms, we find evidence supporting our hypotheses that shareholder and stakeholder pressure differently affect the substantive and symbolic integration of women into corporate leadership. Their differential effects further vary depending on the existing level of female directors.
