The impact of board gender diversity on corporate governance and corporate social responsibility : a case of the South African mining sector
Abstract
There is a growing pressure for companies to improve their governance systems as well as
corporate social responsibility activities, in particular in the areas where they operate. At the
same time, corporations have been criticised for the low level of women members in their
board of directors. Studies suggests that women can provide boards with unique qualities and
resources that can improve board dynamics, strategic decision-making and company
performance. It is further suggested that women are generally more inclined to support
corporate social responsibility projects. This is due to their different values and moral
orientation therefore by having more women in the board influences the company’s
performance in the non-financial area.
The purpose of this study was to investigate in the impacts of board gender diversity on
corporate governance and corporate social responsibility in 10-JSE listed companies. Based
on the 2014 integrated reports of the selected companies, the study reveals that there is a
significant impact of gender diverse board to the decision making of the company with regard
to governance and corporate social responsibility. the study further found that there is a
correlation between the number of board of directors in a company and the board gender
diversity, this means the companies with larger boards tend to also have more women in their
board, and the other extreme is that the companies with smaller number of board members
have fewer or no women in their boards. These findings provide further support for Lord
Davies’ recommendations that listed companies should increase the number of female board
members to 25 percent by 2015. Similarly, the Mining Charter calls on mining companies to
increase the number of female board members and their participation in the mining sector by
10 percent within the next 5 years. Even though critics have argued that women should be
appointed to boards of directors based on moral and ethical considerations, this study
suggests that gender equality on boards makes good business sense.
The study further outlines that board gender diversity is not the only factor that influences the
company’s contribution to corporate social responsibility, and there was no significance
between women representation and corporate governance. Therefore, further research is
needed to provide more information on the impact of board gender diversity on governance
and corporate social responsibility and to confirm the generalisation of these findings.
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