Corporate board diversity and its impact on the socialperformance of companies from emerging economies

Abstract

Gender diversity, and to a lesser extent cultural diversity, have become a focus of interest as predictors of corporate social performance. Based on a sample of 6150 observations from 1230 companies in 18 emerging economies, this article examines the influence of board cultural and gender diversity on three measures of corporate social performance: workforce, community, and product responsibility. Using structural equation modeling, it shows that the existence of board cultural and gender diversity positively affects the workforce, community, and product responsibility performance of companies. Concerning gender diversity, the results largely support other empirical studies. Our findings also contribute to the under-researched area of cultural diversity. This study adds value to the existing literature on corporate board diversity, and can be used as a guide for companies in their pursuit of diversity.