Does Board Gender Diversity Affect Renewable Energy Consumption?

71 Pages Posted: 1 Sep 2019 Last revised: 13 Jul 2021

See all articles by Muhammad Atif

Muhammad Atif

Macquarie University - Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance

Mohammed Hossain

Griffith University

Md. Samsul Alam

De Montfort University, Leicester Castle Business School

Marc Goergen

IE Business School, IE University; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Date Written: February 17, 2020

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of board gender diversity on renewable energy consumption. Using a panel of 11,677 firm-year observations from the USA for 2008–2016, we find a positive relationship between board gender diversity and renewable energy consumption. Moreover, boards require two or more women for women to have a significant impact on renewable energy consumption, consistent with the critical mass theory. Further, we document that the positive impact of female directors on renewable energy consumption stems from female independent rather than female executive directors. Finally, we find a positive effect of renewable energy consumption and board gender diversity on firm financial performance. Our findings are robust to different identification strategies and estimation techniques.

Keywords: Corporate governance, Renewable energy, Board gender diversity, Corporate social responsibility, Environmental protection, Global warming

JEL Classification: G30, G34

Suggested Citation

Atif, Muhammad and Hossain, Mohammed and Alam, Md. Samsul and Goergen, Marc, Does Board Gender Diversity Affect Renewable Energy Consumption? (February 17, 2020). Journal of Corporate Finance, Vol. 66, 2021 (Open access), European Corporate Governance Institute - Finance Working Paper No. 617/2019, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3428921 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3428921

Muhammad Atif

Macquarie University - Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance ( email )

Sydney, NSW 2109
Australia

Mohammed Hossain

Griffith University ( email )

170 Kessels Road
Nathan, Queensland QLD 4111
Australia

Md. Samsul Alam

De Montfort University, Leicester Castle Business School ( email )

The Gateway
Leicester, LE1 9BH
United Kingdom

Marc Goergen (Contact Author)

IE Business School, IE University ( email )

Finance Department
Maria de Molina, 12
Madrid, 28006
Spain

HOME PAGE: http://www.ie.edu/business-school/faculty-and-research/faculty/marc-goergen/

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium

HOME PAGE: http://www.ecgi.org

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