Female leadership and environmental innovation: do gender boards make a difference?

Abstract

Abstract This research investigates how female CEOs and board gender composition (BGC) influence environmental innovation. Using a panel dataset of 237 energy companies, the study reveals that female CEOs are more committed to the environment than males. Interestingly, the findings also show that the BGC positively moderates the female CEO and environmental innovation nexus. Additionally, it reveals that female CEOs have a more significant influence on promoting environmentally friendly innovation in profitable energy companies than males. The findings remain strong after various robustness tests, contributing to the ongoing debate on gender equality and offering novel insights into the green footprint.

Keywords

• Female CEOs
• Environmental innovation
• Board gender composition
• Gender equality
• Energy sector
• Panel data