Do Female Board Members Influence Corporate Social Responsibility Performance?

Abstract

Caring for the environment has become everyone’s responsibility because of our significant negative impact. Considering this, companies are spending a substantial amount on corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities not only as part of corporate citizenship but also to enhance corporate image. Using a fixed-effect model on 2,260 companies’ annual data from 2012 to 2017, we analyze whether female board members influence CSR performance. The results indicate that the proportion of female board directors (PFBD) in Chinese firms is relatively small compared with the male. In other words, the boards members are predominantly male. The fixed effects model indicates that both the number and proportion of female directors are significant in influencing CSR performance. Surprisingly, we note that the average age of female board directors has a significant and negative impact on CSR performance. The results also indicate that the education level of the female director does play a significant role in CSR performance. This demonstrates that firms need to recruit educated board directors and with a right mix of age.