How do female CEOs affect corporate environmental policies?

Abstract

AbstractHow do female Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) affect corporate environmental policies? This study develops a theoretical argument by incorporating the role of gender into the context of corporate environmental policies. Specifically, we differentiate corporate environmental policies into sustainable and unsustainable environmental policies. We also hypothesize a positive relationship between female CEOs and corporate sustainable environmental policies because women possess communal qualities and tend to be more stakeholder‐oriented compared with men. Moreover, we also propose a negative relationship between female CEOs and corporate unsustainable environmental policies because of women's risk aversion. We further predict that female CEOs with in‐group members will enhance the behavioral preferences of female leaders. Thus, we propose that the presence of in‐group members strengthens the relationship between female CEOs and corporate environmental policies. Using a longitudinal data set of Chinese listed firms from 2008 to 2018, we found strong empirical support for our predictions. Implications for the literature on gender and corporate environmental policies are also discussed.