Female board representation and carbon performance: do gender quotas and governance codes matter?
Orazalin N. Ntim C.G. Malagila J.K.
2025Emerald Publishing
Review of Accounting and Finance
2025
Purpose: This study sims to explore the impact of board gender diversity (BGEND) on corporate carbon performance in countries with different gender-related reforms. Design/methodology/approach: This study applies panel regression methods to test the hypotheses using an international data set and addresses endogeneity issues using the two-stage least squares, propensity score matching and Heckman models. Findings: The results show that higher BGEND significantly reduces carbon emissions in quota countries but not in governance code countries. The additional analysis shows that firms with female board directors exhibit better carbon performance following the introduction of quotas. The results also show the effectiveness of BGEND in improving carbon performance in countries with an Emissions Trading Scheme. Practical implications: The findings suggest that higher BGEND leads to enhanced corporate sustainability through reduced carbon emissions, emphasizing the importance of adopting gender quota laws. The findings also suggest that national governments should incorporate specific targets into gender diversity recommendations when developing corporate governance codes. Originality/value: This study provides new evidence on the relationship between BGEND and carbon emissions in a multicountry context and suggests that higher BGEND reduces carbon emissions in countries with quotas, and most importantly, following the introduction of gender quotas, but has no impact on carbon performance in countries with governance codes.
Carbon performance , Corporate governance codes , Cross-country analysis , Female board directors , Gender quotas
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Department of Accounting and Finance, Bang College of Business, KIMEP University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Centre for Research in Accounting, Accountability and Governance (CRAAG), Department of Accounting, Southampton Business School, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
Essex Accounting Centre (EAC), Centre for Environment and Society (CES), Centre for Accountability and Global Development (CAGD), Essex Business School, University of Essex, Colchester, United Kingdom
Southampton Business School, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
UNEC Accounting and Finance Research Center, Azerbaijan State University of Economics, Baku, Azerbaijan
Department of Accounting, UDS School of Business, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana
Department of Accounting, Taylor’s Business School, Taylor’s University, Selangor, Malaysia
Department of Accounting and Finance
Centre for Research in Accounting
Essex Accounting Centre (EAC)
Southampton Business School
UNEC Accounting and Finance Research Center
Department of Accounting
Department of Accounting
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