TY - JOUR

T1 - Female Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and Environmental Decoupling. The moderating impact of Sustainability Board Committees

AU - Velte, Patrick

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s). Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management published by ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PY - 2025/1

Y1 - 2025/1

N2 - This study analyses the link between chief financial officer (CFO) gender and environmental decoupling. Moreover, the moderator effect of sustainability board committees is tested. Based on upper echelons theory, a sample of listed firms headquartered in the European Union (2312 firm-year observations) from the business years 2017–22 is used. In line with the theoretical framework and based on correlation and regression analyses, CFO gender is significantly and negatively linked with environmental decoupling. The existence of sustainability board committees strengthens this relationship. The results are robust to various robustness tests and endogeneity checks. This study contributes to the increasing research activity on the influence of corporate governance on environmental decoupling. Future research should analyze specific environmental decoupling dimensions and the impact of other CFO characteristics (e.g., expertise) on environmental decoupling. Regarding the stakeholder concerns on corporate environmental decoupling in recent years, firms should increase the quality of their environmental reports to build up increased stakeholder relations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first empirical study on the relationship between CFO gender and corporate environmental decoupling. Moreover, the moderator effect of sustainability board committees is included as an innovative complementary driver.

AB - This study analyses the link between chief financial officer (CFO) gender and environmental decoupling. Moreover, the moderator effect of sustainability board committees is tested. Based on upper echelons theory, a sample of listed firms headquartered in the European Union (2312 firm-year observations) from the business years 2017–22 is used. In line with the theoretical framework and based on correlation and regression analyses, CFO gender is significantly and negatively linked with environmental decoupling. The existence of sustainability board committees strengthens this relationship. The results are robust to various robustness tests and endogeneity checks. This study contributes to the increasing research activity on the influence of corporate governance on environmental decoupling. Future research should analyze specific environmental decoupling dimensions and the impact of other CFO characteristics (e.g., expertise) on environmental decoupling. Regarding the stakeholder concerns on corporate environmental decoupling in recent years, firms should increase the quality of their environmental reports to build up increased stakeholder relations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first empirical study on the relationship between CFO gender and corporate environmental decoupling. Moreover, the moderator effect of sustainability board committees is included as an innovative complementary driver.

KW - CFO gender

KW - corporate governance

KW - corporate social responsibility

KW - environmental decoupling

KW - sustainability board committee

KW - upper echelons theory

KW - Management studies

KW - Sustainability sciences, Management & Economics

U2 - 10.1002/csr.3003

DO - 10.1002/csr.3003

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85206180326

VL - 32

SP - 1147

EP - 1160

JO - Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management

JF - Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management

SN - 1535-3958

IS - 1

ER -