Board gender diversity and corporate social performance: Is there really a link?

Our study aims to see whether and how board gender diversity (BGD) may influence the corporate social performance (CSP). Theoretically, we rely on the stakeholders’ theory. From an empirical standpoint, we employ a dynamic panel system GMM (generalized moments method) estimator to estimate a dynamic model of CSP. Our study is carried out on a sample of 101 listed firms on Euronext Paris that made up the SBF Index 250 over the 2006-2010 (be-fore the enactment of the Copé-Zimmermann on gender quota on boards). We find that board gender diversity significantly impacts CSP. Furthermore, a critical mass of female directors is significantly and positively correlated with CSP. The effect is economically significant. Finally, we take into account French specificities by examining the influence of family firms. We found that family firms contribute to the role of female directors regarding CSR activities, especially there is a critical mass of female directors in these firms.