IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i12p4750-d190159.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Increased Representation of Female Executives Improve Corporate Environmental Investment? Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Xinfeng Jiang

    (College of Economics and Management, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China)

  • Ahsan Akbar

    (International Business School, Guangzhou College of South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510080, China)

Abstract

Based on the upper echelon theory and theory of feminist care ethics, this paper uses the data of 359 Chinese listed companies between 2008–2016 to investigate the influence of female executives on corporate environmental investment. The results of the pooled OLS (Ordinary Least Square) regression reveals that both having a female as CEO or Chair as well as increased representation of female directors on the board committees significantly increases corporate environmental investment. Moreover, this phenomenon is not only evident in polluting enterprises but also exists in non-polluting enterprises. Further, we examine whether female executives’ environmental investment is driven by the motive of availing government subsidies or to comply with the environmental regulations. The empirical testing reveals that the environmental investment by female executives is not associated with the acquisition of government subsidies. Moreover, female executives’ environmental investment remains significant in China’s eastern regions despite having less stringent government regulations. The study also found that contrary to the result in the male sample, environmental investment by the female executives significantly reduces pollutant emissions. The present study adds a new perspective to the CSR literature and suggests that an increase in environmental investment by the women executives lies primarily in their innate commitment towards social responsibility. Against the backdrop of a greater emphasis on environmental protection in China, it is concluded that increased representation of female executives in enterprises can contribute to a significant improvement in environmental quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Xinfeng Jiang & Ahsan Akbar, 2018. "Does Increased Representation of Female Executives Improve Corporate Environmental Investment? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-19, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:12:p:4750-:d:190159
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/12/4750/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/12/4750/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wenjing Li & Ran Zhang, 2010. "Corporate Social Responsibility, Ownership Structure, and Political Interference: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 96(4), pages 631-645, November.
    2. Kevin Campbell & Antonio Mínguez-Vera, 2008. "Gender Diversity in the Boardroom and Firm Financial Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 83(3), pages 435-451, December.
    3. Taïeb Hafsi & Gokhan Turgut, 2013. "Boardroom Diversity and its Effect on Social Performance: Conceptualization and Empirical Evidence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 112(3), pages 463-479, February.
    4. Sanyun Zeng & Lihong Wang, 2015. "CEO gender and corporate cash holdings. Are female CEOs more conservative?," Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting & Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(4), pages 449-474, December.
    5. John C. Driscoll & Aart C. Kraay, 1998. "Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimation With Spatially Dependent Panel Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(4), pages 549-560, November.
    6. Liu, Yiming & Hao, Yu & Gao, Yixuan, 2017. "The environmental consequences of domestic and foreign investment: Evidence from China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 271-280.
    7. Arouri, Mohamed El Hedi & Caporale, Guglielmo Maria & Rault, Christophe & Sova, Robert & Sova, Anamaria, 2012. "Environmental Regulation and Competitiveness: Evidence from Romania," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 130-139.
    8. Adams, Renée B. & Ferreira, Daniel, 2009. "Women in the boardroom and their impact on governance and performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 291-309, November.
    9. Jiraporn, Pornsit & Jumreornvong, Seksak & Jiraporn, Napatsorn & Singh, Simran, 2016. "How do independent directors view powerful CEOs? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 268-274.
    10. Nuttaneeya Torugsa & Wayne O’Donohue & Rob Hecker, 2012. "Capabilities, Proactive CSR and Financial Performance in SMEs: Empirical Evidence from an Australian Manufacturing Industry Sector," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(4), pages 483-500, September.
    11. Yang, Chih-Hai & Tseng, Yu-Hsuan & Chen, Chiang-Ping, 2012. "Environmental regulations, induced R&D, and productivity: Evidence from Taiwan's manufacturing industries," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 514-532.
    12. Xin Miao, 2015. "China emissions: stop subsidizing emitters," Nature, Nature, vol. 527(7576), pages 38-38, November.
    13. Feng Wei & Binyan Ding & Yu Kong, 2017. "Female Directors and Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from the Environmental Investment of Chinese Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-19, December.
    14. Eunjung Hyun & Daegyu Yang & Hojin Jung & Kihoon Hong, 2016. "Women on Boards and Corporate Social Responsibility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-26, March.
    15. Chen, Charles J.P. & Li, Zengquan & Su, Xijia & Sun, Zheng, 2011. "Rent-seeking incentives, corporate political connections, and the control structure of private firms: Chinese evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 229-243, April.
    16. Khan, Walayet A. & Vieito, João Paulo, 2013. "Ceo gender and firm performance," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 55-66.
    17. Shengnan Li & Jianbo Niu & Sang-Bing Tsai, 2018. "Opportunism Motivation of Environmental Protection Activism and Corporate Governance: An Empirical Study from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-18, May.
    18. Fara Azmat & Ruth Rentschler, 2017. "Gender and Ethnic Diversity on Boards and Corporate Responsibility: The Case of the Arts Sector," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 141(2), pages 317-336, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bo Wang & Zehui Wang & Jun Wen & Xiaotian Tina Zhang, 2021. "Executive Gender and Firm Environmental Management: Evidence from CFO Transitions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-14, March.
    2. Minghui Yang & Petra Maresova & Ahsan Akbar & Paulo Bento & Weixi Liu, 2021. "Convergence or Disparity? A Cross-Country Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting for Banking Industry in Nordic Countries and China," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(3), pages 21582440211, July.
    3. Ammar Hussain & Minhas Akbar & Muhammad Kaleem Khan & Ahsan Akbar & Mirela Panait & Marian Catalin Voica, 2020. "When Does Earnings Management Matter? Evidence across the Corporate Life Cycle for Non-Financial Chinese Listed Companies," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-19, December.
    4. Luisa Esteban-Salvador & Ana F. Gargallo-Castel, 2019. "Female Executives in the Service Sector: The Case of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-18, October.
    5. Minhas Akbar & Ahsan Akbar & Muhammad Azeem Qureshi & Petra Poulova, 2021. "Sentiments–Risk Relationship across the Corporate Life Cycle: Evidence from an Emerging Market," Economies, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-17, August.
    6. María‐Florencia Amorelli & Isabel‐María García‐Sánchez, 2021. "Trends in the dynamic evolution of board gender diversity and corporate social responsibility," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 537-554, March.
    7. Muhammad Azeem Qureshi & Minhas Akbar & Ahsan Akbar & Petra Poulova, 2021. "Do ESG Endeavors Assist Firms in Achieving Superior Financial Performance? A Case of 100 Best Corporate Citizens," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, June.
    8. Opoku, Eric Evans Osei & Kufuor, Nana Kwabena & Manu, Sylvester Adasi, 2021. "Gender, electricity access, renewable energy consumption and energy efficiency," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    9. Yaoxiaoxue Hong & Xianling Jiang & Beibei Shi & Chang Yu, 2022. "Do Fiscal Environmental Protection Expenditures Crowd Out Corporate Environmental Protection Investments?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-23, October.
    10. Quan-Jing Wang & Qiong Shen & Yong Geng & Dan-Yang Li, 2022. "Does Overseas Investment Raise Corporate Environmental Protection? Evidence from Chinese A-List Companies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(2), pages 1-15, January.
    11. Bilal Ahmed & Minhas Akbar & Tanazza Sabahat & Saqib Ali & Ammar Hussain & Ahsan Akbar & Xie Hongming, 2020. "Does Firm Life Cycle Impact Corporate Investment Efficiency?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, December.
    12. Lena Winslott Hiselius & Annica Kronsell & Christian Dymén & Lena Smidfelt Rosqvist, 2019. "Investigating the Link between Transport Sustainability and the Representation of Women in Swedish Local Committees," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-18, August.
    13. Sisi Zheng & Shanyue Jin, 2023. "Can Enterprises in China Achieve Sustainable Development through Green Investment?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-25, January.
    14. Defeng Yang & Zhanqing Wang & Fangmin Lu, 2019. "The Influence of Corporate Governance and Operating Characteristics on Corporate Environmental Investment: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-18, May.
    15. Soonchul Hyun & Jong Min Kim & Jeongsoo Han & Mark Anderson, 2022. "Female executive leadership and corporate social responsibility," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(3), pages 3475-3511, September.
    16. Nhat Minh Tran, 2022. "CEO and Chairperson Characteristics and Corporate Environmental Performance: A Study of Cooperatives in Vietnam," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(4), pages 21582440221, October.
    17. Minghui Yang & Paulo Bento & Ahsan Akbar, 2019. "Does CSR Influence Firm Performance Indicators? Evidence from Chinese Pharmaceutical Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-18, October.
    18. Liu Yang & Han Qin & Quanxin Gan & Jiafu Su, 2020. "Internal Control Quality, Enterprise Environmental Protection Investment and Finance Performance: An Empirical Study of China’s A-Share Heavy Pollution Industry," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-15, August.
    19. Zhice Cheng & Xinyuan Chen & Huwei Wen, 2022. "How Does Environmental Protection Tax Affect Corporate Environmental Investment? Evidence from Chinese Listed Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-22, March.
    20. Giuliana Birindelli & Antonia Patrizia Iannuzzi & Marco Savioli, 2019. "The impact of women leaders on environmental performance: Evidence on gender diversity in banks," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(6), pages 1485-1499, November.
    21. Gentjan Çera & Khurram Ajaz Khan & Andrea Bláhová & Jaroslav Belas, Jr., 2022. "Do owner-manager demographics in SMEs matter for corporate social responsibility?," Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 17(2), pages 511-531, June.
    22. Yize Hu & Jun Shan & Peixun Zhan, 2020. "Institutional Investors’ Corporate Site Visits and Firms’ Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-17, August.
    23. Mariasole Bannò & Emilia Filippi & Sandro Trento, 2023. "Women in top echelon positions and their effects on sustainability: a review, synthesis and future research agenda," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 27(1), pages 181-251, March.
    24. Yongxiang Jiao & Fen Xu & Wenjing Ma & Hongen Yang, 2023. "Can Urban Greening Construction Improve the Corporate Preventive Environmental Investment? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-17, June.
    25. Gianpaolo Abatecola & Matteo Cristofaro, 2019. "Ingredients of Sustainable CEO Behaviour: Theory and Practice," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-15, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yiming Zhuang & Xinyue Chang & Younggeun Lee, 2018. "Board Composition and Corporate Social Responsibility Performance: Evidence from Chinese Public Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-12, August.
    2. McGuinness, Paul B. & Vieito, João Paulo & Wang, Mingzhu, 2017. "The role of board gender and foreign ownership in the CSR performance of Chinese listed firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 75-99.
    3. María‐Florencia Amorelli & Isabel‐María García‐Sánchez, 2021. "Trends in the dynamic evolution of board gender diversity and corporate social responsibility," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 537-554, March.
    4. Feng Wei & Binyan Ding & Yu Kong, 2017. "Female Directors and Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from the Environmental Investment of Chinese Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-19, December.
    5. Rizwan Ali & Muhammad Safdar Sial & Talles Vianna Brugni & Jinsoo Hwang & Nguyen Vinh Khuong & Thai Hong Thuy Khanh, 2019. "Does CSR Moderate the Relationship between Corporate Governance and Chinese Firm’s Financial Performance? Evidence from the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, December.
    6. Paul B. McGuinness & João Paulo Vieito & Mingzhu Wang, 2020. "Proactive government intervention, board gender balance, and stakeholder engagement in China and Europe," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 719-762, September.
    7. Chenxi Wang & Xincai Deng & Susana Álvarez-Otero & Muhammad Safdar Sial & Ubaldo Comite & Jacob Cherian & Judit Oláh, 2021. "Impact of Women and Independent Directors on Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Performance: Empirical Evidence from an Emerging Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-16, May.
    8. Mustafa K. Yilmaz & Umit Hacioglu & Ekrem Tatoglu & Mine Aksoy & Selman Duran, 2023. "Measuring the impact of board gender and cultural diversity on corporate governance and social performance: evidence from emerging markets," Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(2), pages 2106503-210, December.
    9. Muhammad Safdar Sial & Chunmei Zheng & Jacob Cherian & M.A. Gulzar & Phung Anh Thu & Tehmina Khan & Nguyen Vinh Khuong, 2018. "Does Corporate Social Responsibility Mediate the Relation between Boardroom Gender Diversity and Firm Performance of Chinese Listed Companies?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-18, October.
    10. Benkraiem, Ramzi & Boubaker, Sabri & Brinette, Souad & Khemiri, Sabrina, 2021. "Board feminization and innovation through corporate venture capital investments: The moderating effects of independence and management skills," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    11. Hiroaki Niikura & Miki Seko, 2020. "The effect of inside and outside female directors on firm performance: comparison of the First section, Second section, Mothers, and Jasdaq in the Tokyo Stock Exchange Market," International Journal of Economic Policy Studies, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 123-166, February.
    12. Anne Marie Ward & John Forker, 2017. "Financial Management Effectiveness and Board Gender Diversity in Member-Governed, Community Financial Institutions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 141(2), pages 351-366, March.
    13. Irene Wei Kiong Ting & Wei-Kang Wang & Wen-Min Lu & Yun-Jung Chen, 2021. "Do female directors will have impact on corporate performance?," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 611-631, April.
    14. María del Mar Miras‐Rodríguez & Amalia Carrasco‐Gallego & Bernabé Escobar‐Pérez, 2015. "Are Socially Responsible Behaviors Paid Off Equally? A Cross‐cultural Analysis," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(4), pages 237-256, July.
    15. Helena Isidro & Márcia Sobral, 2015. "The Effects of Women on Corporate Boards on Firm Value, Financial Performance, and Ethical and Social Compliance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(1), pages 1-19, November.
    16. Lonkani, Ravi, 2019. "Gender differences and managerial earnings forecast bias: Are female executives less overconfident than male executives?," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 18-34.
    17. Paola Belingheri & Filippo Chiarello & Andrea Fronzetti Colladon & Paola Rovelli, 2021. "Twenty years of gender equality research: A scoping review based on a new semantic indicatorr," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(9), pages 1-27, September.
    18. Paul McGuinness & Kevin Lam & João Vieito, 2015. "Gender and other major board characteristics in China: Explaining corporate dividend policy and governance," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 989-1038, December.
    19. Yu-Hui Wang, 2020. "Does Board Gender Diversity Bring Better Financial and Governance Performances? An Empirical Investigation of Cases in Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-10, April.
    20. Ahmed Bouteska & Mehdi Mili, 2022. "Women’s leadership impact on risks and financial performance in banking: evidence from the Southeast Asian Countries," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 26(4), pages 1213-1244, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:12:p:4750-:d:190159. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.