Do women board members contribute to companies’ superior environmental performance? A literature review

Yakira Fernández-Torres (), Clara Gallego-Sosa () and Milagros Gutiérrez-Fernández ()
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Yakira Fernández-Torres: Universidad de Extremadura
Clara Gallego-Sosa: Universidad de Extremadura
Milagros Gutiérrez-Fernández: Universidad de Extremadura

Review of Managerial Science, 2025, vol. 19, issue 5, No 8, 1513-1565

Abstract: Abstract The urgent need to tackle climate change has led scholars to study the factors that affect companies’ ability to achieve superior environmental performance. One such factor, the influence of women board members, has received considerable attention because of women’s greater tendency to care for the planet. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no literature review has yet attempted to describe the state of the art of this relationship and its conditioning factors. Therefore, this paper aims to identify the degree of consensus in the literature regarding the role of board gender diversity in environmental performance and to specify the variables that condition this relationship. The content of all studies that offer evidence of this relationship is analyzed. The results imply that there is a high degree of consensus regarding the positive influence of female leadership on environmental performance in studies that focus exclusively on this relationship. The review also shows that this relationship is conditioned by numerous factors. However, the evidence in this regard is scant and in some cases inconclusive. Therefore, this review reveals both the scope and the unfilled needs in this field of study. It thus supports the sharing of knowledge on this topic and draws attention to the questions that need to be addressed.

Keywords: Gender diversity; Companies’ environmental performance; Literature review; Board of directors; Corporate governance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s11846-024-00800-x

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