Board demographic diversity, institutional context and corporate philanthropic giving
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Board demographic diversity, institutional context and corporate philanthropic giving Majdi Ben Selma1 · Wenxi Yan2 · Taïeb Hafsi2 Accepted: 9 October 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Research findings generally suggest that board diversity has an effect on performance, be it social or financial, but there is uncertainty as to the strength and direction of the effect. In this study, we respond to two questions: (1) Do differences in the diversity of board demographic characteristics have an effect on Corporate Philanthropic Giving (CPG)? Does the institutional context affect such a relationship? We use a sample of all listed non-financial Chinese firms from 2010 to 2014. Our findings confirm that corporate giving is indeed related to gender, age, tenure, functional and foreign experience diversity. More importantly, the relationships are significantly moderated by the institutional context, as measured by the governance regime and the level of market development. This paper contributes convincing empirical evidence that within-board demographic diversity characteristics, controlled by board structural characteristics, have a clear effect on corporate giving, and that this effect is affected by the institutional context. This in turn should facilitate responding to a wider set of stakeholders’ needs and issues. Each of these findings is a contribution to theory and have important implications for research on corporate social responsibility, or corporate governance, and for managing board composition. Keywords Board diversity · Corporate philanthropic giving · Corporate social responsibility (CSR) · Institutional theory · Board demographic characteristics · China
* Majdi Ben Selma [email protected] Wenxi Yan [email protected] Taïeb Hafsi [email protected] 1
ESG UQAM, 315 Rue Sainte‑Catherine Est, Montreal, Quebec H2X 3X2, Canada
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HEC Montreal, 3000 Côte‑Sainte‑Catherine, Montreal, Quebec H3T 2A7, Canada
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1 Introduction Boards of directors often shape firms’ strategies by making key strategic decisions. They are also a strategic resource, which helps deal with firms’ resource dependence (Hilman and Hayes 2010), and determines most firm-level strategic outcomes (Yan and Schiehll 2018; Kemp 2006). It has been shown that the board’s influence is determined by its composition (Cannella et al. 2008). In particular, we can expect diversity in board member characteristics, whether psychological or demographic, to determine the board’s influence (Siciliano 1996). In general, scholars see diversity in positive terms. It is related to analyses that are more thorough, and to creativity and original ideas (Chatman et al. 1998). In boards, research has confirmed that gender diversity is significantly and positively related to performance (Ben-Amar et al. 2013). When diversity is more broadly measured, it is positively related to such firm-level behavior as innovation, philanthropy and market position, and to socia
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