Abstract
The inconclusiveness of previous research on the association between gender diverse boards (GDB) and corporate social performance (CSP) has led us to revisit the question in light of stakeholder management and institutional theories. Given that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a multidimensional concept, we test the influence of GDB on various groups of stakeholders. By considering the interaction between stakeholders’ power and directors’ personal motivations toward the prioritization of stakeholders’ claims, we find that GDB are positively related to CSR dimensions that are related to less powerful stakeholders such as the environment, contractors, and the community. However, GDB do not appear to have a significant impact on CSR dimensions that are associated with stakeholders who benefit from more institutionalized power, such as employees and customers.
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Notes
According to Carroll (1979, 1991), the economic responsibility refers to the fact that firms should be profitable when producing goods and services. The legal responsibility implies that firms should operate within the law. Ethical responsibilities embrace those behaviors and activities that are not codified into law, but are expected or prohibited by societal members. Finally, philanthropic responsibilities are discretionary and voluntary actions that contribute to improving the quality of life of the community.
Sustainalytics serves investors and financial institutions across the world and maintains a network of offices in Toronto, Boston, New York, Washington D.C., Amsterdam, London, Brussels, Paris, Frankfurt, Timisoara, Bucharest, Sydney, and Singapore. Moreover, it has partnerships with research firms and global leading indexes such as STOXX, SUSTINVEST, Ceres, Channel NewsAsia, CSR Asia, Maclean’s Magazine, Publicaciones Semana, and the Tellus Institute.
Catalyst is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to accelerate progress for women through workplace inclusion.http://www.catalyst.org/.
Sustainalytics assesses corporate performance using a framework consisting of both core and sector-specific indicators. Core indicators are assessed for all companies, whereas sector-specific indicators are assigned based on their relevancy and materiality to a given industry. For each indicator assigned to a company, Sustainalytics analysts assign raw scores between 0 and 100 which correspond to a specific answer category. Raw scores are then weighted according to a proprietary weight matrix. Indicators that are more relevant to a given industry are weighted more heavily.
The GICS was developed by Standard & Poor’s (S&P) and Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI). It classifies companies on the basis of ten industrial sectors: consumer discretionary, consumer staples, energy, financials, health care, industrials, information technology, materials, telecommunication services, and utilities.
To avoid cluttering, lagged variables are not displayed in the tables.
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The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Grant No. 410-03-1046), the Institute of Governance in Public and Private Organizations, and the Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chair in Governance. We are also grateful to the Catalyst organization for their support. The usual caveat applies.
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Francoeur, C., Labelle, R., Balti, S. et al. To What Extent Do Gender Diverse Boards Enhance Corporate Social Performance?. J Bus Ethics 155, 343–357 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3529-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3529-z