Open AccessDoes Cultural Diversity of Board of Directors Affect Corporate Environmental Performance? Evidence From the Energy Sector
Author(s) -
Nicola Varrone,
Eugenio D’Angelo,
Francesco Gangi,
Lucia Michela Daniele
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
european scientific journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1857-7881
pISSN - 1857-7431
DOI - 10.19044/esj.2020.v16n28p287
Subject(s) - diversity (politics) , affect (linguistics) , business , gender diversity , accounting , energy (signal processing) , cultural diversity , panel data , sample (material) , energy sector , corporate governance , economics , economic system , political science , law , finance , psychology , econometrics , statistics , chemistry , mathematics , communication , chromatography
This paper has a twofold objective. First, it intends to investigate if and how the cultural diversity of the board of directors affects the corporate environmental performance of energy firms. Second, it aims at verifying if the relationship between board cultural diversity and corporate environmental performance varies across different legal systems. To address this topic, panel data methodology was used on a sample of 153 firms operating in the energy sector, from 32 countries, over the period 2013-2018. The findings suggest that a higher board’s cultural heterogeneity positively affects corporate environmental performance. Moreover, the study reveals that this link is stronger among energy firms from civil law countries compared to energy firms from common law countries.