Family and non-family women on the board of directors: Effects on corporate citizenship behavior in family-controlled fashion firms

Abstract

Drawing on self-construal theory and the family business literature, we offer theory and evidence on how the presence of women, either family members or not, on the board of directors of family firms affects firm engagement in corporate citizenship behavior. In examining corporate citizenship behavior, we argue that it is important to distinguish between corporate social responsibility and philanthropy as well as between family and non-family women on the board of directors. Using data from the population of 63 family-controlled firms in the global ranking of the top-100 fashion firms, we find support for our hypotheses: female directors are beneficial for corporate social responsibility engagement only if they are not members of the controlling family, while they are beneficial for philanthropic engagement only if they are members of the controlling family.

Trends in the dynamic evolution of board gender diversity and corporate social responsibility

“…The articles included in this review study the relationship between the diversity of the board of directors and the CSR using multiple dependent variables, as can be seen in Figure 2. The following stand out among them: CSR as social responsibility, social performance or sustainability performance (Bear et al, 2010; Beji et al, 2020; Boulouta, 2013; Byron & Post, 2016; Cruz et al, 2019; Fernandez et al, 2019; Francoeur et al, 2019; García‐Sánchez et al, 2018; Hafsi & Turgut, 2013; M. A. Harjoto & Rossi, 2019; Landry et al, 2016; Macaulay et al, 2018; McGuinness et al, 2017; Setó‐Pamies, 2015; Uyar et al, 2020; Zhang et al, 2013; Zhuang et al, 2018), environmental performance (Birindelli et al, 2019; Cordeiro et al, 2020; Elmagrhi et al, 2018; Lu & Herremans, 2019; Walls et al, 2012), environmental investment (Atif et al, 2020; Jiang & Akbar, 2018; Wei et al, 2017), environmental lawsuits (Liu, 2018), corporate philanthropy or charitable contributions (Campopiano et al, 2019; Jia & Zhang, 2013; Williams, 2003; Wonsuk & Abebe, 2016; Zhang et al, 2018) and CSR assurance (Liao et al, 2018). Rodriguez‐Dominguez et al (2009) analyze the process of creating and implementing a code of ethics.…”

“…Francoeur et al, 2019;García-Sánchez et al, 2018;Hafsi & Turgut, 2013;M. A. Harjoto & Rossi, 2019;Landry et al, 2016;Macaulay et al, 2018;McGuinness et al, 2017;Setó-Pamies, 2015;Uyar et al, 2020;Zhang et al, 2013;Zhuang et al, 2018), environmental performance(Birindelli et al, 2019;Cordeiro et al, 2020;Elmagrhi et al, 2018;Lu & Herremans, 2019;Walls et al, 2012), environmental investment(Atif et al, 2020;Jiang & Akbar, 2018;Wei et al, 2017), environmental lawsuits(Liu, 2018), corporate philanthropy or charitable contributions(Campopiano et al, 2019;Jia & Zhang, 2013;Williams, 2003;Wonsuk & Abebe, 2016;Zhang et al, 2018) and CSR assurance(Liao et al, 2018) Rodriguez-Dominguez et al (2009). analyze the process of creating and implementing a code of ethics.…”

Board gender diversity and environmental, social, and economic value creation: Does family ownership matter?

“…Thus, despite the importance of other value creation activities, family owners are likely to focus on those that offer greater visibility due to their potential to benefit family's reputation and enhancement of their social image (Pan, Weng, Xu, & Chan, ). As for female directors in family firms, the influence of founding families or their association thereof may cause them to behave differently from those in nonfamily firms (Campopiano, Rinaldi, Sciascia, & De Massis, ). Motivated by their need to do well for close members, they may decide to take care of the family stakeholders relative to other stakeholders (Zellweger & Nason, ).…”

Examining the Role of Top Management in Corporate Sustainability: Does Supply Chain Position Matter?

“…The difference between women's and men's approaches to leadership is often explained by the former's tendency to be more interpersonal, inclusive, and community-oriented, as opposed to the latter, which experiments and field studies have found to be task-oriented, competitive, and transactional in comparison [37]. Since corporate environmental efforts are perceived as community-oriented rather than shareholder-focused, it is not surprising that there is a nascent stream of sustainability research consistently finding a positive relationship between the presence of women leaders in an organization and voluntary disclosure likelihood [38], proactive environmental business strategy [13], and philanthropic and corporate social responsibility engagement [39]. We are thus expecting a positive effect of the presence of women in executive roles on the likelihood of announcing a sustainability initiative.…”