 From risk aversion to sustainability: How women directors influence investment in the energy firms?Ishwar Khatri Finance Research Letters, 2025, vol. 78, issue C Abstract: The energy sector faces growing pressure for a green transition, yet its capital-intensive nature requires significant investment. The role of women directors, known for their ethical yet risk-averse approach, in driving such investment remains unclear. This study examines data from 567 global energy firms (2002–2022) from the LSEG database to explore the link between women directors and investment expenditure. The regression results indicate that while the women directors do not significantly impact overall investment, they do positively influence sustainable investment, i.e. investment in renewable energy firms. These findings remain robust across alternative measures and estimation methods, including IV-2SLS and GMM. Additionally, this study confirms that a critical mass of at least 30 % women directors is essential to influence sustainable investment expenditure. Overall, the study provides valuable insights into gender socialization and also suggests that increasing women's representation on boards is key to promoting sustainable corporate investment. Keywords: Women directors; Boards; Renewable energy; Corporate investment; Gender socialization; Critical mass (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:finlet:v:78:y:2025:i:c:s1544612325004763 DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2025.107213 Access Statistics for this article Finance Research Letters is currently edited by R. Gençay More articles in Finance Research Letters from Elsevier |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.