The importance of board diversity and network centrality in ESG data

Nicholas J. Downing, Jie Huang, Monica Paiella and Sandra Paterlini

Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, 2026, vol. 16, issue 3, 666-694

Abstract: This paper aims to identify some of the determinants of firm performance on social and environmental issues. Specifically, we look at the effects of corporate boards’ gender diversity and of corporate directors’ social networks as captured by network centrality measures. We focus on a sample of Italian-listed companies over the period 2010–2020 and find evidence of a positive relationship between gender diversity and a firm’s Environmental (E) and Social (S) scores, suggesting that social and environmental responsibility is higher when there are more women on the corporate board. As to board members’ social networks, network centrality measures appear to be positively linked to the E and S scores. This information is valuable not only to the company itself but also to policymakers who are interested in improving firms’ environmental and social performance.

Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20430795.2025.2573198 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:jsustf:v:16:y:2026:i:3:p:666-694

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/TSFI20

DOI: 10.1080/20430795.2025.2573198

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment is currently edited by Dr Matthew Haigh

More articles in Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().