Title: Board composition and environmental innovation: does gender diversity matter?

Authors: Fabrice Galia; Emmanuel Zenou; Marc Ingham

Addresses: Groupe ESC Dijon Bourgogne, Burgundy School of Business, 29 rue Sambin – 21000 Dijon, France ' Groupe ESC Dijon Bourgogne, Burgundy School of Business, 29 rue Sambin – 21000 Dijon, France ' Groupe ESC Dijon Bourgogne, Burgundy School of Business, 29 rue Sambin – 21000 Dijon, France

Abstract: This article aims at providing a better understanding of the link between board diversity and environmental innovation. In this perspective, we explore the relationship between several types of diversity in board composition (gender diversity, age diversity, and proportion of employee directors) and the probability and intensity of environmental benefits of innovation, from a sample of 142 French innovative firms based on data from French Community Innovation Survey (CIS) in 2008. Data from board composition have been drawn from annual reports. Our results show significant evidence of a positive relationship between environmental innovation and gender diversity as well as a positive relationship between environmental innovation and age diversity, and a negative relationship with the proportion of employee directors. These findings provide discussions for the impact of diversity in board composition on environmental benefits of innovation.

Keywords: board composition; gender diversity; age diversity; employee directors; environmental innovation; Community Innovation Survey; CIS; annual reports; annual reporting; eco-friendly; environmentally friendly; sustainability; greening; environment friendly; sustainable development; France; small businesses; small firms.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2015.066152

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2015 Vol.24 No.1, pp.117 - 141

Published online: 03 Dec 2014 *

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