By what way women on corporate boards influence corporate social performance? Evidence from a semiparametric panel model

Abstract

Given the contrasting empirical results of the literature, the question of the influence of the presence of women on corporate boards of directors (WOCB) on the corporate social performance (CSP), we revisit this problem by developing a semi-parametric approach to capture the non-linear effects of this relationship. The results show that sociological diversity, organizational learning, and pluralistic regulation all play critical roles in CSP. Feminization of the Board successfully helps to the enrichment of its decision-making by increasing the total cognitive, knowledge, and skill diversity. Nonetheless, when a threshold value is achieved, the positive marginal impact of Board feminization on CSP declines while WOCB grows, implying a diminishing marginal utility.