Corporate social responsibility strategy and corporate environmental and social performance: The moderating role of board gender diversity

Abstract

Drawing on upper echelons and resource dependence theories and using data of European listed companies over the period 2009–2016, we examine the effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy and board gender diversity on environmental and social performance. In particular, we investigate whether CSR strategy contributes to improving corporate environmental and social performance, and whether this relationship is moderated by board gender diversity. Our empirical findings suggest that firms with more effective CSR strategies exhibit better environmental and social performance. The results also show that board gender diversity is positively associated with environmental and social performance, thus supporting the notion that board gender diversity promotes sustainable development. Furthermore, the findings reveal that the positive relationship between CSR strategy and environmental performance is negatively moderated by board gender diversity. Finally, the results show that that national governance quality and firm size are important underlying factors affecting corporate environmental and social performance.

Corporate social responsibility, board gender diversity and real earnings management: The case of Jordan

“…Although BGEND has received much attention from regulatory bodies and practitioners in many developed countries, female representation on boards of Jordanian firms is not mentioned in JCGC or any other regulations (Al Fadli et al, 2020;Ibrahim & Hanefah, 2016). However, researchers in Jordan have reported that female directors play a significant role in enhancing CSR information (Al Fadli et al, 2019;Ibrahim & Hanefah, 2016), suggesting that they are more socially oriented (Issa & Fang, 2019), more attentive to the interests of stakeholders (Orazalin & Baydauletov, 2020), and exhibit more conservative decision-making behaviour (Harakeh et al, 2019). However, others (Abu Qa'dan & Suwaidan, 2019) have concluded that female directors do not affect CSR disclosure.…”

“…In this context, board gender diversity (BGEND) is one of corporate governance mechanisms that is widely discussed in the accounting literature, especially in connection with firms' social and environmental issues (Haque, 2017;Nguyen et al, 2020). BGEND serves as an effective governance monitoring tool and is considered as one of the main drivers of sustainable growth (Orazalin & Baydauletov, 2020;Zalata et al, 2019). According to agency theory, monitoring is one of the main functions performed by corporate boards (Jensen & Meckling, 1976).…”

Gender Diversity in Boards of Directors: A Bibliometric Mapping

“…The articles written during this period clearly focus on the impact of female executives on company performance and, specifically, corporate social responsibility [33][34][35][36]. Corporate social responsibility has become a strategic issue for all companies, which must be handled by upper management [23].…”

“…Corporate social responsibility has become a strategic issue for all companies, which must be handled by upper management [23]. Most of the academics have concluded that female talent can play a strategic role in enabling companies to properly manage their social responsibility and sustainable practices [35]. Along these lines, environmental sustainability is also positively influenced by the existence of gender diversity in a company's board of directors [37].…”

Corporate Social Responsibility in the European Banking Sector: Commitment to the 2030 Agenda and Its Relationship with Gender Diversity

“…They are, therefore, more likely to implement policies and initiatives to combat this phenomenon [62]. Thus, there is ample evidence that board gender diversity positively influences companies' environmental performance [122][123][124][125].…”