The effects of diversity and inclusion on ESG performance: A comparison between Islamic and conventional banks

Abstract

This study analyzes the effects of diversity, inclusion, and people development (DIP) on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance in Islamic and conventional banks from 2015 to 2022. Using data from Refinitiv database, it reveals that a more diverse and inclusive workplace is found to have better overall ESG performance and both pillars (environmental and social performance). This positive and significant association is more pronounced in Islamic banks than in its conventional counterpart. However, no significant effect was found on governance performance. These findings are robust to several sensitivity analyses based on some alternative measures. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study investigating the effects of diversity, inclusion, and people development on ESG performance, using multi-country data on Islamic and conventional banks.