The role of the cultural context in moderating the effect between the presence of women directors and firm environmental innovation

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between the presence of women in board of directors and environmental innovation and the moderating role of the cultural context in terms of gender inequality through the lens of Social Identity Theory. We measured the presence of women directors as board gender diversity, presence of only one woman director and presence of at least three women directors. We measured environmental innovation using environmental patents, also distinguishing among Air Pollution, Solid Waste, and Water Pollution. The sample consists of 2453 manufacturing firms operating in Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Germany. The Multiple Linear Regression Poisson models performed suggest that the presence of women directors do not affect or reduce environmental innovation, while gender inequality in the cultural context plays a negative moderating role. This study contributes to literature as it clarifies the previous contradictory results and investigates the moderating role of the cultural context.