 From diversity to sustainability: Environmental and social spillover effects of board gender quotasJournal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2024, vol. 222, issue C, 314-331 Abstract: Exploiting the staggered implementation of board gender quotas in Europe, this study examines their effect on firms’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. I find that firms’ environmental and social performance increases subsequent to the quotas and the rise of women’s representation on the board. I explore the mechanisms at play and show that the effect is driven by more ESG committees, improved innovation, resource use, and human rights considerations. The positive quota effect on environmental and social outcomes is strongest for less publicly exposed firms. My cross-sectional results suggest that the quota effect is partly crowded out by the positive sustainability effect of public pressure. Taken together, my results point towards positive spillover effects of a governance regulation on other sustainability dimensions. Further, they provide an understanding of the mechanisms behind these effects, relevant to policymakers and practitioners. Keywords: Board gender quotas; ESG scores; Environmental behavior; Spillover effects; Regulatory crowding-out (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:jeborg:v:222:y:2024:i:c:p:314-331 DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2024.04.026 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization is currently edited by Houser, D. and Puzzello, D. More articles in Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization from Elsevier |
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