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Toward sustainable corporate behavior: The effect of the critical mass of female directors on environmental, social, and governance disclosure
Author(s) -
De Masi Sara,
SłomkaGołębiowska Agnieszka,
Becagli Claudio,
Paci Andrea
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
business strategy and the environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.123
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1099-0836
pISSN - 0964-4733
DOI - 10.1002/bse.2721
Subject(s) - critical mass (sociodynamics) , corporate governance , accounting , business , shareholder , stakeholder , transparency (behavior) , sample (material) , corporate social responsibility , public relations , political science , economics , finance , law , microeconomics , chemistry , chromatography
Boards of directors have recently become more attentive to their stakeholders' concerns, providing more transparent information and adopting more sustainable business strategies. This study investigates the influence of a critical mass of women on boards on the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure score and its three components separately. Using a sample of the FTSE‐MIB listed companies in the 2005–2017 period, we show that reaching a critical mass of female board members—going from one or two women to at least three—enhances the level of ESG disclosure. The results also show that the critical mass of female board members has a positive influence on every component of the ESG score, with the highest contribution of women reaching the governance score. These findings provide insights to shareholders and policymakers and suggest that a critical mass of female board members is particularly effective in improving transparency, and it can be seen as a mechanism to transit to stakeholder governance, fostering more sustainable behavior in firms.