Board Gender Diversity and Environmental Performance by Mediating Impact of Green Innovation

Abstract

The study aims to analyze the impact of board diversity on environmental performance with the mediating role of green invocation. The study was conducted in China's environment. The data is collected from the financial statements provided by listed companies, such as the China Stock Exchange, on its website. For data validity, descriptive statistics are used to find outliers and differences in the variables by using variance analysis and for analyzing the multicollinearity correlation matrix. The results of descriptive statistics prove the validity of the data, and the correlation matrix explains that there is no issue of multicollinearity between dependent and independent variables. The GMM model is used to analyze the data. The study's results demonstrated that board diversity positively impacts environmental performance because female directors are more environmentally sensitive than male directors. However, board diversity hurts green innovation because the board members focus on utilizing current resources in a more productive way in which the company earns immediate profit. Investing in research and development with the intention of innovation may waste the investment, and companies may suffer losses. The researcher suggested that board diversity is needed in Chinese companies for environmental performance.  The results prove the resource dependency theory, which explains that innovations, research, and development depend on resource availability (Capital) in the organization. The researcher suggested that this study will be conducted in different environments, especially in the context of Pakistan, and that the researchers will accept, reject, or modify results.