The role of board gender diversity and independence on the existence of a sustainability committee

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to enhance the understanding of the factors determining the existence of a “Corporate Social Responsibility” (CSR) committee on the board. Focusing the attention on board composition, this paper explores how female directors influence the existence of a CSR committee, and how this effect can be moderated by the independence of board members. To be able to test the aims of the study, an international sample of analysis of 4,168 firm-year observations from 2012 to 2016 was used, proposing several models for panel data. The findings revealed that female directors exert a positive influence on the existence of a CSR committee, although this commitment is limited when in addition to women, they are independent directors on the board. Therefore, it can be said that board gender diversity and board independence are not complementary mechanisms that favour the existence of a specific committee on CSR. This study is one of a limited number of studies to focus on the antecedents of existence of a CSR committee in firms. In addition, the study obtains benefit by considering the independence of board of directors as a moderating variable on the relationship female directors-sustainability. In contrast with previous studies based on the cross-sectional data from a single country, the data set of the current study includes a panel data comprising of a period between 2012 and 2016 and an international sample from 44 countries in six continents.