The role of the cultural context in moderating the effect between the presence of women directors and firm environmental innovation

This study examines the relationship between the presence of women in board of
directors and environmental innovation and the moderating role of the cultural context
in terms of gender inequality through the lens of Social Identity Theory. We
measured the presence of women directors as board gender diversity, presence of
only one woman director and presence of at least three women directors. We measured
environmental innovation using environmental patents, also distinguishing
among Air Pollution, Solid Waste, and Water Pollution. The sample consists of 2453
manufacturing firms operating in Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Germany.
The Multiple Linear Regression Poisson models performed suggest that the presence
of women directors do not affect or reduce environmental innovation, while gender
inequality in the cultural context plays a negative moderating role. This study contributes
to literature as it clarifies the previous contradictory results and investigates the
moderating role of the cultural context.