Do Female Executives Prioritize Corporate Social Responsibility?
How do female executives view corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy? Previous studies have report mixed findings on the relationship between female executives and CSR policy. On the basis of a sample of Chinese listed firms, we use propensity score matching to construct a new sample of firms to evaluate the gender transition (from male to female) of CEOs or board chairpersons (executives) randomly assigned to firms (i.e. the gender transition of executives is treated as an exogenous event) Subsequently, we use a difference in differences approach to identify the pure effect of female executives on CSR. Our estimates indicate that, compared with their male counterparts, female executives are more likely to encourage CSR reporting and are more likely to strengthen the content of CSR statements. Furthermore, we find that female executives prioritize reporting CSR aspects in the order of shareholders protection, staff protection, delivery protection, customer protection, environmental protection, and public relations.