Exploring the black box: Board gender diversity and corporate social performance

Abstract

This study explores the association between board gender diversity (BGD) and Corporate Social Performance (CSP). Using a unique sample of the top 81 non-financial European companies, we applied generalized method of moments (GMM) estimators for panel vector autoregressive regression (PVAR) models, to analyze the dynamic causal relationships between the BGD–CSP debate and eliminate potential bias and heterogeneity. Our results illustrate that BGD has a positive effect on the overall CSP and its four dimensions. Moreover, firms with a critical mass of female directors have a positive effect on overall CSP, especially on the dimensions of the community and employees.