The search for alignment of board gender diversity, the adoption of environmental management systems, and the association with firm performance in Asian firms

Abstract

This study examines how board gender diversity can address the challenges to adopt environment management systems (EMS) to improve firm performance. Firstly, drawing on gender socialization and diversity theories, higher board gender diversity motivates firms to adopt EMS. Empirical evidence shows that firms with gender diverse boards are greener. Secondly, the study investigates the maxim that green pays to be green. The empirical findings highlight a positive and statistically significant but economically modest link between EMS and firm financial performance. However, the inclusion of board gender diversity as moderator significantly improves the relationship between EMS and firm performance. In addition, CEO gender is linked to better performance only in firms with low female board diversity. The findings strongly recommend higher board gender diversity as a mechanism to address the challenges of EMS and firm performance simultaneously. The findings are robust to controlling for propensity score matching technique and are different in different approaches.

Is CSR the new competitive environment for CEOs? The association between CEO turnover, corporate social responsibility and board gender diversity: Asian evidence

“…At the same time, we found that CSR performance also amplifies the negative relation between ROA and probability of CEO turnover. Through CSR, a CEO sends a message to the larger community that he recognizes its position in helping society and is acting upon that acknowledgment (Rehman et al, 2020). At the second stage, we found that gender critical mass moderates the negative relation between firm performance (ROA and CSR) and CEO turnover in an Asian context.…”

“…At the same time, we found that CSR performance also amplifies the negative relation between ROA and probability of CEO turnover. Through CSR, a CEO sends a message to the larger community that he recognizes its position in helping society and is acting upon that acknowledgment (Rehman et al, 2020). Our findings extend not only to the direct linkage between CSR and CEO turnover but also suggest that CSR investment successively frames the assessment of ROA provided during the CEO's term of office.…”

“…For brevity, we did not provide the table. The value of the individual variance inflation factors (VIFs) ranges between 1.56 to 2.53, while the average is 1.82, which is quite acceptable as it is far below the generally accepted VIF of range 10 (Chen & Young, 2010; Rehman, Orij, & Khan, 2020; West, Aiken, Wu, & Taylor, 2007). Hence, we are sure that our sample has a minimal threat of multicollinearity.…”

“…On the other hand, critics of CSR argue that it benefits different stakeholders at the cost of stockholders, which definitely conflicts with the firm's primary goal of financial performance (Jo & Harjoto, 2011; Hemingway & Maclagan, 2004), thereby, increasing the probability of CEO turnover. In fact, researchers have not been able to draw a conclusive association between economic performance and CSR, which aggravates this disparity (Rehman, Orij, & Khan, 2020; Nakamura, 2015; Belu & Manescu, 2013; Paul & Siegel, 2006). This inconclusive relation between CSR and firm's economic outcomes thus provides unclear direction concerning how CSR may impact a CEO's performance evaluation process.…”

Women in top echelon positions and their effects on sustainability: a review, synthesis and future research agenda

“…Many studies reveal a positive relationship between the presence of female directors and sustainable activities (see e.g. Beji et al, 2020;Rehman et al, 2020;Saheed Olanrewaju et al, 2020). Female directors not only positively affect corporate sustainability, but they also play a key role in "enabling firms to ethically manage their social responsibilities and sustainable practices" (Yasser et al, 2017) and in promoting the adoption of equality, diversity and inclusion policies (Bruna et al, 2014).…”