Gender quotas work in “tight” cultures, says new paper from the University of Toronto.

Quotas probably won’t get more women into the boardroom in places like the U.S. and Canada. They have a better chance however in countries such as China or Germany where people place a higher value on obeying authority and conforming to cultural norms, say Profs. Soo Min Toh and Geoffrey Leonardelli, from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.