IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finana/v90y2023ics1057521923003393.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Board gender diversity, quotas, and ESG disclosure: Global evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Alkhawaja, Abdallah
  • Hu, Fang
  • Johl, Shireenjit
  • Nadarajah, Sivathaasan

Abstract

This study examines the impact of gender-diverse boards and the staggered initiation of gender quotas around the world on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure. Using a sample of 48 countries from 2005 to 2019, we show a significantly positive relationship between gender-diverse boards and ESG disclosure. This positive effect of gender diversity becomes stronger in countries with weaker stakeholder regimes and information environments, suggesting that those countries can obtain greater benefits by appointing more female directors. Further, using a staggered difference-in-differences design, we document a significant increase in ESG disclosure following the enactment of gender quotas. Overall, our findings demonstrate why gender-diverse boards for corporate social actions are relevant in an international setting.

Suggested Citation

  • Alkhawaja, Abdallah & Hu, Fang & Johl, Shireenjit & Nadarajah, Sivathaasan, 2023. "Board gender diversity, quotas, and ESG disclosure: Global evidence," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finana:v:90:y:2023:i:c:s1057521923003393
    DOI: 10.1016/j.irfa.2023.102823
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1057521923003393
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.irfa.2023.102823?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. B. Espen Eckbo & Knut Nygaard & Karin S. Thorburn, 2022. "Valuation Effects of Norway’s Board Gender-Quota Law Revisited," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(6), pages 4112-4134, June.
    2. Ming Jia & Zhe Zhang, 2013. "Critical Mass of Women on BODs, Multiple Identities, and Corporate Philanthropic Disaster Response: Evidence from Privately Owned Chinese Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(2), pages 303-317, December.
    3. Djankov, Simeon & McLiesh, Caralee & Shleifer, Andrei, 2007. "Private credit in 129 countries," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 299-329, May.
    4. Evgeniou, Theodoros & Vermaelen, Theo, 2017. "Share buybacks and gender diversity," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 669-686.
    5. Bebchuk, Lucian A. & Cohen, Alma, 2005. "The costs of entrenched boards," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 409-433, November.
    6. 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.
    7. David A. Matsa & Amalia R. Miller, 2013. "A Female Style in Corporate Leadership? Evidence from Quotas," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(3), pages 136-169, July.
    8. Venkat R. Eleswarapu & Kumar Venkataraman, 2006. "The Impact of Legal and Political Institutions on Equity Trading Costs: A Cross-Country Analysis," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 19(3), pages 1081-1111.
    9. Samuel Drempetic & Christian Klein & Bernhard Zwergel, 2020. "The Influence of Firm Size on the ESG Score: Corporate Sustainability Ratings Under Review," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(2), pages 333-360, November.
    10. Renée B. Adams & Patricia Funk, 2012. "Beyond the Glass Ceiling: Does Gender Matter?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(2), pages 219-235, February.
    11. La Porta, Rafael & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1997. "Legal Determinants of External Finance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1131-1150, July.
    12. García Lara, Juan Manuel & García Osma, Beatriz & Mora, Araceli & Scapin, Mariano, 2017. "The monitoring role of female directors over accounting quality," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 651-668.
    13. Chung, Kee H. & Elder, John & Kim, Jang-Chul, 2010. "Corporate Governance and Liquidity," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(2), pages 265-291, April.
    14. Rey Dang & Maria Giuseppina Bruna & L'Hocine Houanti & Riadh Manita, 2018. "Board gender diversity and ESG disclosure: Evidence from the US," Post-Print hal-01847924, HAL.
    15. Chen, Jie & Leung, Woon Sau & Goergen, Marc, 2017. "The impact of board gender composition on dividend payouts," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 86-105.
    16. Cho, Seong-Soon & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Suh, Jungwon, 2014. "Creditor rights and capital structure: Evidence from international data," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 40-60.
    17. Matt Glendening & Inder K. Khurana & Wei Wang, 2016. "The market for corporate control and dividend policies: Cross-country evidence from M&A laws," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 47(9), pages 1106-1134, December.
    18. Gul, Ferdinand A. & Srinidhi, Bin & Ng, Anthony C., 2011. "Does board gender diversity improve the informativeness of stock prices?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 314-338, April.
    19. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez‐De‐Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2006. "What Works in Securities Laws?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(1), pages 1-32, February.
    20. Jasmin Joecks & Kerstin Pull & Karin Vetter, 2013. "Gender Diversity in the Boardroom and Firm Performance: What Exactly Constitutes a “Critical Mass?”," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(1), pages 61-72, November.
    21. Giulia Ferrari & Valeria Ferraro & Paola Profeta & Chiara Pronzato, 2022. "Do Board Gender Quotas Matter? Selection, Performance, and Stock Market Effects," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(8), pages 5618-5643, August.
    22. Griffin, Dale & Li, Kai & Xu, Ting, 2021. "Board Gender Diversity and Corporate Innovation: International Evidence," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 56(1), pages 123-154, February.
    23. 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.
    24. Riadh Manita & Maria Giuseppina Bruna & Rey Dang & L’Hocine Houanti, 2018. "Board gender diversity and ESG disclosure: evidence from the USA," Journal of Applied Accounting Research, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 19(2), pages 206-224, May.
    25. Kerstin Lopatta & Reemda Jaeschke & Chen Chen, 2017. "Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Performance: International Evidence," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(3), pages 199-209, May.
    26. Marianne Bertrand & Sandra E Black & Sissel Jensen & Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2019. "Breaking the Glass Ceiling? The Effect of Board Quotas on Female Labour Market Outcomes in Norway," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 86(1), pages 191-239.
    27. Charles W. L. Hill & Thomas M. Jones, 1992. "Stakeholder‐Agency Theory," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 131-154, March.
    28. Williams, Andrew, 2015. "A global index of information transparency and accountability," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 804-824.
    29. Maretno Harjoto & Indrarini Laksmana & Robert Lee, 2015. "Board Diversity and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(4), pages 641-660, December.
    30. Fauver, Larry & Hung, Mingyi & Li, Xi & Taboada, Alvaro G., 2017. "Board reforms and firm value: Worldwide evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(1), pages 120-142.
    31. Liu, Chelsea, 2018. "Are women greener? Corporate gender diversity and environmental violations," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 118-142.
    32. Robert W. Holthausen, 2009. "Accounting Standards, Financial Reporting Outcomes, and Enforcement," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(2), pages 447-458, May.
    33. Mingzhu Wang & Elisabeth Kelan, 2013. "The Gender Quota and Female Leadership: Effects of the Norwegian Gender Quota on Board Chairs and CEOs," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(3), pages 449-466, October.
    34. Huang, Jiekun & Kisgen, Darren J., 2013. "Gender and corporate finance: Are male executives overconfident relative to female executives?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(3), pages 822-839.
    35. Healy, Paul M. & Palepu, Krishna G., 2001. "Information asymmetry, corporate disclosure, and the capital markets: A review of the empirical disclosure literature," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 405-440, September.
    36. David A. Carter & Betty J. Simkins & W. Gary Simpson, 2003. "Corporate Governance, Board Diversity, and Firm Value," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 38(1), pages 33-53, February.
    37. Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2003. "Enjoying the Quiet Life? Corporate Governance and Managerial Preferences," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(5), pages 1043-1075, October.
    38. Shaista Wasiuzzaman & Wan Masliza Wan Mohammad, 2020. "Board gender diversity and transparency of environmental, social and governance disclosure: Evidence from Malaysia," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(1), pages 145-156, January.
    39. Gregory Jackson & Julia Bartosch & Emma Avetisyan & Daniel Kinderman & Jette Steen Knudsen, 2020. "Mandatory Non-financial Disclosure and Its Influence on CSR: An International Comparison," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(2), pages 323-342, March.
    40. Atif, Muhammad & Hossain, Mohammed & Alam, Md Samsul & Goergen, Marc, 2021. "Does board gender diversity affect renewable energy consumption?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    41. Levi, Maurice & Li, Kai & Zhang, Feng, 2014. "Director gender and mergers and acquisitions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 185-200.
    42. Leuz, Christian & Nanda, Dhananjay & Wysocki, Peter D., 2003. "Earnings management and investor protection: an international comparison," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 505-527, September.
    43. Liu, Yu & Wei, Zuobao & Xie, Feixue, 2014. "Do women directors improve firm performance in China?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 169-184.
    44. Yan-Leung Cheung & Weiqiang Tan & Wenming Wang, 2018. "National Stakeholder Orientation, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Bank Loan Cost," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(2), pages 505-524, June.
    45. Ali, A & Hwang, LS, 2000. "Country-specific factors related to financial reporting and the value relevance of accounting data," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 1-21.
    46. Maria Baldini & Lorenzo Dal Maso & Giovanni Liberatore & Francesco Mazzi & Simone Terzani, 2018. "Role of Country- and Firm-Level Determinants in Environmental, Social, and Governance Disclosure," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 79-98, June.
    47. Kenneth R. Ahern & Amy K. Dittmar, 2012. "The Changing of the Boards: The Impact on Firm Valuation of Mandated Female Board Representation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(1), pages 137-197.
    48. repec:eme:jaar00:jaar-01-2017-0024 is not listed on IDEAS
    49. Ugur Lel & Darius P. Miller, 2015. "Does Takeover Activity Cause Managerial Discipline? Evidence from International M&A Laws," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(6), pages 1588-1622.
    50. Ball, Ray & Kothari, S. P. & Robin, Ashok, 2000. "The effect of international institutional factors on properties of accounting earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-51, February.
    51. 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.
    52. Nadarajah, Sivathaasan & Duong, Huu Nhan & Ali, Searat & Liu, Benjamin & Huang, Allen, 2021. "Stock liquidity and default risk around the world," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    53. Grant Richardson & Grantley Taylor & Roman Lanis, 2016. "Women on the board of directors and corporate tax aggressiveness in Australia," Accounting Research Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(3), pages 313-331, September.
    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. Ren, Xingzi & Li, Jiarong & Wang, Xing & Lei, Xingfan, 2024. "Female directors and CSR: Does the presence of female directors affect CSR focus?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    2. Schoonjans, Eline, 2024. "From diversity to sustainability: Environmental and social spillover effects of board gender quotas," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 314-331.
    3. Wu, Zihao & Gao, Jun & Luo, Chengdi & Xu, Hui & Shi, Guanqun, 2024. "How does boardroom diversity influence the relationship between ESG and firm financial performance?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(PB), pages 713-730.
    4. Zhang, Hua & Zhang, Huaqing & Tian, Li & Yuan, Shengli & Tu, Yongqian, 2024. "ESG performance and litigation risk," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    5. Abdelmoneim Bahyeldin Mohamed Metwally & Saleh Aly Saleh Aly & Mohamed Ali Shabeeb Ali, 2024. "The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Cash Holdings: The Moderating Role of Board Gender Diversity," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-22, October.

    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. Kara, Alper & Nanteza, Aziidah & Ozkan, Aydin & Yildiz, Yilmaz, 2022. "Board gender diversity and responsible banking during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    2. Atif, Muhammad & Hossain, Mohammed & Alam, Md Samsul & Goergen, Marc, 2021. "Does board gender diversity affect renewable energy consumption?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    3. Nguyen, Thi Hong Hanh & Ntim, Collins G. & Malagila, John K., 2020. "Women on corporate boards and corporate financial and non-financial performance: A systematic literature review and future research agenda," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    4. Gambacorta, Leonardo & Pancotto, Livia & Reghezza, Alessio & Spaggiari, Martina, 2022. "Gender diversity in bank boardrooms and green lending: Evidence from euro area credit register data," CEPR Discussion Papers 17650, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Arnaboldi, F. & Casu, B. & Gallo, A. & Kalotychou, E. & Sarkisyan, A., 2021. "Gender diversity and bank misconduct," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    6. Liu, Chelsea, 2021. "CEO gender and employee relations: Evidence from labor lawsuits," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    7. Ding, Rong & Duan, Tinghua & Hou, Wenxuan & Liu, Xianda & Xu, Ziwei, 2022. "Do women drive corporate social responsibility? Evidence from gender diversity reforms around the world," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    8. 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.
    9. Liu, Chelsea, 2018. "Are women greener? Corporate gender diversity and environmental violations," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 118-142.
    10. Gull, Ammar Ali & Atif, Muhammad & Hussain, Nazim, 2023. "Board gender composition and waste management: Cross-country evidence," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(1).
    11. Schoonjans, Eline, 2024. "From diversity to sustainability: Environmental and social spillover effects of board gender quotas," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 314-331.
    12. Rakesh Pandey & Pallab Kumar Biswas & Muhammad Jahangir Ali & Mansi Mansi, 2020. "Female directors on the board and cost of debt: evidence from Australia," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(4), pages 4031-4060, December.
    13. Fan, Yaoyao & Jiang, Yuxiang & Zhang, Xuezhi & Zhou, Yue, 2019. "Women on boards and bank earnings management: From zero to hero," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 1-1.
    14. Girardone, Claudia & Kokas, Sotirios & Wood, Geoffrey, 2021. "Diversity and women in finance: Challenges and future perspectives," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    15. Aguir, Iness & Boubakri, Narjess & Marra, Miriam & Zhu, Lu, 2023. "Gender diversity in leadership: Empirical evidence on firm credit risk," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    16. Baghdadi, Ghasan A. & Safiullah, Md & Heyden, Mariano L.M., 2023. "Do gender diverse boards enhance managerial ability?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    17. Ren, Xingzi & Li, Jiarong & Wang, Xing & Lei, Xingfan, 2024. "Female directors and CSR: Does the presence of female directors affect CSR focus?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    18. García Lara, Juan Manuel & García Osma, Beatriz & Mora, Araceli & Scapin, Mariano, 2017. "The monitoring role of female directors over accounting quality," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 651-668.
    19. Laura Cabeza-García & Esther B. Brío & Carlos Rueda, 2021. "The moderating effect of innovation on the gender and performance relationship in the outset of the gender revolution," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 755-778, April.
    20. Huang, Yichu & Fang, Feifei & Fan, Yaoyao & Ly, Kim Cuong, 2024. "Do ‘Lehman Sisters’ work in China? Women on boards and bank risk," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Board gender diversity; ESG disclosure; Stakeholder regimes; Information environments; Quotas;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets
    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:eee:finana:v:90:y:2023:i:c:s1057521923003393. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620166 .

    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.