The role of board gender and foreign ownership in the CSR performance of Chinese listed firms

Paul B. McGuinness, João Paulo Vieito and Mingzhu Wang

Journal of Corporate Finance, 2017, vol. 42, issue C, 75-99

Abstract: China's recent promotion of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has coincided with a marked increase in the number of Chinese listed firms attracting female board members and foreign equity investors. Using Rankins' (RKS) ratings over the 2009 to 2013 period, we show that greater gender balance in top-management supports stronger CSR performance. This finding broadens gender-based accounts emphasizing social networks (Westphal and Milton, 2000), Critical Mass Theory (Kramer et al., 2006; Bear et al., 2010; and Soares et al., 2011) and team dynamics (Woolley et al., 2010; and Hoogendoorn et al., 2013). Findings also reveal stronger CSR performance in firms where a female officer is present at the CEO and/or vice-CEO level. Female leadership thus appears to be just as important as gender mix in driving CSR change. Our findings shed new light and add further dimension to the nascent literature on gender and CSR-engagement in China (Lau et al., 2016; and Liao et al., 2016).

Keywords: Gender; CSR ratings; Social performance; QFII; Governance; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G38 J16 J31 L25 M14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (292)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:corfin:v:42:y:2017:i:c:p:75-99

DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2016.11.001

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