THE IMPACT OF BOARD GENDER DIVERSITY ON CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: PANEL DATA EVIDENCE FOR LISTED COMPANIES IN ROMANIA

Gender diversity is a powerful source of competitive advantage for corporations, bringing a wider spectrum of perspectives and professional expertise. Likewise, women are stereotypically good communicators, being capable of empathy, thus providing support in the quest to develop a corporate social responsibility (CSR) vision that is at the core of a business goals and strategies. This study examines the impact of board gender diversity on CSR for listed companies at the Bucharest Stock Exchange, over 2007-2011. Even if the frequency analysis emphasizes that the number of companies adopting CSR has increased, the CSR in Romania is still at an incipient stage. The parametric investigation via independent samples t test reveals that there are significant difference as regards the number and the share of women on boards, as measures of board gender diversity, between CSR and no CSR companies, but only in 2007 and 2008. Further, by estimating logistic regressions, alongside mixed effects logistic regressions, the results provide support for a negative impact of the number, as well as the share of women on boards on CSR. The empirical evidence also shows that board size has a positive impact on CSR, whilst the link between the gender of CEO and CSR was not statistically validated. However, current investigation supports that women directors encounter barriers that limit their capacity to contribute to an effective decision-making process.