Institutional and Critical Mass Theories in Action: How Executive Diversity and Global Anti‐Corruption Initiatives Impact ESG Performance in G20 Firms

Musa Ghazwani

Sustainable Development, 2025, vol. 33, issue S1, 665-686

Abstract: This paper examines the effect of executive cultural diversity (ECD) and executive gender diversity (EGD), besides the global anti‐corruption initiatives, on ESG performance among G20 firms. The paper investigates data extracted from Refinitiv Eikon of 117,305 observations ranging from 2005 to 2022. Distinctively applying ordinary least squares (OLS), fixed effects (FE) and random effects (RE) to examine this association. These methods support robustness tests, including FE and RE, and generalized method of moments (GMM) methods to address concerns such as heteroscedasticity, clustering, and endogeneity in cross‐country regressions. The results confirm that companies with executives from diverse cultural backgrounds who are committed to global anti‐corruption initiatives, such as the Organization for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) Anti‐corruption Convention and the United Nations Global Compact, perform better on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. The study's findings support theories such as institutional theory and critical mass theory, which state that diverse executives can enhance governance and promote sustainable business practices. Implications for corporate executives, policymakers, and investors include strategically promoting executive diversity and commitment to global anti‐corruption practices to improve ESG performance.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.70016

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:wly:sustdv:v:33:y:2025:i:s1:p:665-686

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainable Development is currently edited by Richard Welford

More articles in Sustainable Development from John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().