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Board gender composition, board independence and sustainable supply chain responsibility

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  • Samuel Benjamin
  • Mansi Mansi
  • Rakesh Pandey

Abstract

The consideration of social and environmental factors in companies’ supply chain is a prevalent research topic because stakeholders are now inquisitive about the social and environmental impacts of companies’ suppliers. Using a sample of S&P 500 firms, we find that board gender composition and board independence are positively associated with sustainable supply chain responsibility (SSCR). We also identify three channels (CEO duality, sustainability committee and sensitive industries) through which board gender composition and board independence affect SSCR, where board gender composition consistently explains SSCR, but the effect of board independence is less pronounced in firms with CEO duality and firms with a sustainability committee. Finally, we explore the reason for the less‐pronounced findings for board independence in our subsample analyses and find that, compared with independent female directors who continue to display significant associations with SSCR, independent male directors do not engender SSCR across the three subsample tests.

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  • Samuel Benjamin & Mansi Mansi & Rakesh Pandey, 2020. "Board gender composition, board independence and sustainable supply chain responsibility," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(4), pages 3305-3339, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:60:y:2020:i:4:p:3305-3339
    DOI: 10.1111/acfi.12532
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