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Towards higher sustainability: If you want something done, ask a chairwoman

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  • Słomka-Gołębiowska, Agnieszka
  • De Masi, Sara
  • Zambelli, Simona
  • Paci, Andrea

Abstract

The debates on sustainability and ESG agenda increasingly highlight how important human capital is in defining the future for businesses. This study aims at empirically investigating the impact of having a woman chairing the board and/or one of the board committees on ESG performance. With the adoption of a sample including all FTSE-MIB Italian companies from 2007 to 2018, our findings document that chairwoman enhances ESG performance. However, we find that the critical mass of women on boards negatively affect such relationship. This puzzling result may suggest a change in the board dynamics of companies with chairwomen, once a critical mass is reached.

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  • Słomka-Gołębiowska, Agnieszka & De Masi, Sara & Zambelli, Simona & Paci, Andrea, 2023. "Towards higher sustainability: If you want something done, ask a chairwoman," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PA).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:58:y:2023:i:pa:s1544612323006803
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2023.104308
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    Cited by:

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    2. Al Mamun, Md & Boubaker, Sabri & Hossain, Md Zakir & Manita, Riadh, 2024. "Female political empowerment and green finance," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corporate governance; Women on boards; Chairwoman; ESG; Sustainability;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility

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