Do good governance practices, moderated by gender parity, strengthen environmental, social, and governance performance for European companies?

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This study examines how country-level gender parity interacts with board characteristics to affect environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance in sustainable European firms. Higher gender parity nations amplify the positive effects of women on boards, non-executive directors, and stakeholder engagement on ESG while reducing the negative impacts of busy directors. Surprisingly, the combined effect of board gender diversity and national gender parity on ESG is negative, contrary to expectations. These findings enrich research on board characteristics and ESG performance, emphasizing the overlooked role of gender parity.

Keywords: Global Gender Gap, ESG Performance, Board Gender Diversity, Non-Executive Board Members, Busy Directors, Stakeholders Engagement

JEL Classification: G10, G30, J16

Received: 08.04.2024
Accepted: 22.04.2024

How to cite: Grau Grau, A. J., Castelo Branco, M., & Bel Oms, I. (2024). Do good governance practices, moderated by gender parity, strengthen environmental, social, and governance performance for European companies? In Ž. Stankevičiūtė, A. Kostyuk, M. Venuti, & P. Ulrich (Eds.), Corporate governance: Research and advanced practices (pp. 53–59). Virtus Interpress. https://doi.org/10.22495/cgrapp8