Does board gender diversity benefit for corporate ESG performance: Evidence from Germany

Abstract

More and more women have been engaged in public affairs in recent years. Due to the different perspectives and knowledge of female and male, female directors play more roles in corporate sustainable development, especially for corporate social, environmental and governance performance. This study uses panel data of 275 firms from 2010 to 2018 of German firms, to explore the impact of female directors on the board of corporate environmental, social and governance performance. Through OLS, 2SLS and GMM model, this study found that the high percentage of female directors on the board is more likely to enhance the corporate environmental, social and governance performance and corporate social responsibility strategy. The policy “Act on Equal Participation” in Germany that makes it mandatory for companies to increase the percentage of female directors will increase the positive impact of female director on corporate environmental, social and governance performance. In addition, this study separates environmental, social and corporate governance and explores the relationship with female directors. The results of this study show that high percentage of female directors’ benefit for corporate environmental and social performance but not impacting corporate governance ability.