The Eco-Gender Gap in Boardrooms

79 Pages Posted: 22 Nov 2022 Last revised: 22 Apr 2024

See all articles by Po-Hsuan Hsu

Po-Hsuan Hsu

National Tsing Hua University - Department of Quantitative Finance; National University of Singapore (NUS) - Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research (ABFER)

Kai Li

University of British Columbia (UBC) - Sauder School of Business; Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research (ABFER); China Academy of Financial Research (CAFR); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI); Canadian Sustainable Finance Network (CSFN)

Yihui Pan

University of Utah - Department of Finance; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Date Written: June 02, 2024

Abstract

To examine what women bring to the boardroom table, we first show a significant gender gap in viewing the tradeoff between environmental and economic benefits using the Gallup Poll. We next demonstrate that such a gender gap extends into boardrooms: Having female directors is associated with more environmentally friendly business operations, but also with higher investment in environmental protection at the same time. Results from an analysis using a California law change that imposed board gender quotas point to a potentially causal effect from female directors. Employing a rich set of director demographics and board characteristics, we show that none consistently supersedes the share of female directors in explaining corporate environmental performance, suggesting that female directors play a unique role in explaining firms’ investment in environmental protection.

Keywords: female directors, board diversity, corporate environmental performance, pollution prevention, emissions, diversity of thought JEL classification: G30, G38, G41 female directors, board diversity, corporate environmental performance, pollution prevention, emissions, diversity of thought JEL classification: G30

JEL Classification: G30; G38; G41

Suggested Citation

Hsu, Po-Hsuan and Li, Kai and Pan, Yihui, The Eco-Gender Gap in Boardrooms (June 02, 2024). European Corporate Governance Institute – Finance Working Paper No. 861/2022, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4281479 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4281479

Po-Hsuan Hsu (Contact Author)

National Tsing Hua University - Department of Quantitative Finance ( email )

101, Section 2, Kuang-Fu Road
Hsinchu, Taiwan 300
China

National University of Singapore (NUS) - Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research (ABFER) ( email )

BIZ 2 Storey 4, 04-05
1 Business Link
Singapore, 117592
Singapore

Kai Li

University of British Columbia (UBC) - Sauder School of Business ( email )

2053 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2
Canada
604-822-8353 (Phone)
604-822-4695 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://https://sites.google.com/view/kaili/home

Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research (ABFER) ( email )

BIZ 2 Storey 4, 04-05
1 Business Link
Singapore, 117592
Singapore

China Academy of Financial Research (CAFR) ( email )

1954 Huashan Road
Shanghai P.R.China, 200030
China

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

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

Canadian Sustainable Finance Network (CSFN) ( email )

Queens University
Kingston, ON
Canada

HOME PAGE: http://https://smith.queensu.ca/centres/isf/research/network.php

Yihui Pan

University of Utah - Department of Finance ( email )

David Eccles School of Business
Salt Lake City, UT 84112
United States

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

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

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