Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the question concerning whether gender diversity in the boardroom matters to lenders or not?Design/methodology/approach: To answer this question, the authors use the data from 2009 to 2015 of all A-share listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges. The authors use ordinary least squares regression and firm fixed effect regression to draw our inferences. To check and control the issue of endogeneity the authors use one-year lagged gender diversity regression, two-stage least squares regression, propensity score matching method and Heckman two-stage regression.Findings: The results suggest that the presence of female directors on the board reduces managerial opportunistic behavior and information asymmetry and, consequently, creditors’ perceptions about the probability of loan default and the cost of debt. The authors find that lenders charge 4 per cent less from borrowers that have at least one female board member than they do from borrowers with no female board members. The authors also find that the board structure (i.e. gender diversity) of government-owned firms also matters to lenders, as government-owned firms that have gender-diverse boards have a lower cost of debt (i.e. 5 per cent lower interest rate).Practical Implications: The findings have implications for individual borrowers and for regulators. For example, borrowers can get debt financing at lower rates by altering their boards’ composition (i.e. through gender diversity). From the regulatory perspective, the results support recent legislative initiatives around the world regarding female directors’ representation on boards.Originality Value: This paper makes several contributions. First, beyond the recent studies on boardroom gender, the authors investigate the relationship between gender diversity in the boardroom and the cost of debt. Second, the authors extend the literature on the association between government ownership and cost of debt by first time providing evidence that the board composition (e.g. gender diversity) of government-owned firms also matters to the lenders. The other contributions are discussed in the introduction section.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to address whether gender diversity on compensation committees ensures objective determination of CEOs’ compensation.Design/methodology/approach: The authors use a sample of companies listed in China from 2006 to 2015. The authors use pooled ordinary least square regression as the baseline methodology, and two-stage least square regression and propensity score matching to control for endogeneity.Findings: The authors find evidence that gender-diverse compensation committees limit CEOs’ total cash compensation and strengthen the link between CEO pay and firm performance, but only independent female directors have a significant impact, indicating that the monitoring effect outweighs the executive effect. Moreover, compensation committees with a critical mass of female directors have more impact on CEOs’ total pay and the link between CEO pay and firm performance than do committees with a single female director. Finally, gender-diverse compensation committees are more effective in setting CEOs’ compensation in state-controlled firms, where agency issues are more severe.Practical implications: Female directors can improve firm-level governance by monitoring management actions, such as setting CEOs’ compensation. The study contributes to the debate on gender diversity in the boardroom, finding a positive economic effect. The study sheds light on China’s diversity practices at the director level and provides empirical guidance to China’s regulatory bodies.Originality/value: The authors extend earlier studies by providing the first empirical evidence that gender-diverse compensation committees strengthen the link between CEO pay and firm performance; that independent female directors are more effective in the monitoring role than executive female directors; that compensation committees with a critical mass of female directors are more effective in setting CEOs’ pay than are committees with a single female director; and that the influence of gender-diverse compensation committees on CEOs’ pay varies by type of ownership.

Sustainable entrepreneurial opportunity recognition and action are strongly linked to a person’s desire to succeed. Therefore, entrepreneurial intentions are increasingly being studied from a sustainable development viewpoint. By integrating the theory of human values into the theory of planned behavior, the goal of this study was to investigate how values interact with sustainable entrepreneurial intentions. In all, 465 graduate students from Punjab, Pakistan, were interviewed for this study. The findings reveal that students’ entrepreneurial intentions are supported by views toward sustainable entrepreneurship, societal norms, and perceived behavioral control. According to structural equation modeling, self-transcendence and self-enhancement are the personal values that directly or indirectly interact with sustainable entrepreneurial intentions, which is consistent with the findings of the present study. Accordingly, the TPB model may help identify the relationship between sustainable entrepreneurship values and aims and the role of personal values in terms of understanding sustainable entrepreneurial intentions. As a practical implication, according to this study, it is essential to emphasize the importance of personal values in the education of potential entrepreneurs to increase their sustainable entrepreneurial intentions.

As an emerging economy, China modernized its economy via split-share structure reform. This reform changed the nature of ownership in state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Following this reform, we investigated the research question concerning how reductions in state ownership affect the corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance of listed firms. This study tests the hypotheses using data of Chinese listed firms between 2010 and 2015. Applying multiple regressions, we found a negative association between state reductions and CSR performance. We contribute to the existing literature by providing empirical evidence that those firms which reduce state holdings are not taking CSR activities seriously. Our study also sheds light on the worthiness and prominent status of large state owners of SOEs, as they are more likely to engage in social activities. This study provides fruitful implications for policy-makers and practitioners about state holdings, which may either hinder or enhance the corporate social performance.

Interest in firms’ ESG performance is longstanding and growing. However, understanding remains fragmented across firms at different stages of their life cycle. This study investigates the role of life cycle stages in the relationship between ESG and firm performance in the Chinese context. Using a sample of 26,412 firm–year observations of firms listed in China from 2011 to 2021, the results provide evidence that, although ESG has a significant positive effect on firm performance, the effect is contingent on the stages of the firm’s life cycle. The association between ESG and firm performance is more pronounced for firms in the growth and mature phases. We also find that this effect is enhanced for state-owned growth firms localized in regions with a lower marketization degree. Furthermore, the findings also extend the distinct mediation roles of institutional investors and the agency cost of free cash flow in the nexus of ESG and firm performance. This paper provides direct empirical evidence for a better understanding of firm’s behavior across different life cycle stages, as well as helps to achieve a win–win situation of firm performance and social value.

This study investigates the relationship between sub-national institutional contingencies and corporate social responsibility performance (CSRP). Sub-national institutional contingencies (SNICs) play a moderating role in the link between CSRP and corporate financial performance (CFP). Using data from all A-share Chinese companies listed on the Shenzhen and Shanghai exchanges for the period 2010 to 2015, ordinary least square (OLS) regression was used as a baseline methodology to draw inferences from the data. The study uses propensity score matching (PSM) to confirm the robustness and to tackle the possible issue of endogeneity. We find reliable evidence that SNICs have a positive and significant effect on CSRP. This positive relationship is more pronounced in cross-listed companies as compared to state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and in companies located in the more developed region. Moreover, SNICs moderate the positive relationship between CSRP and CFP. The relationship is stronger in firms that are non-SOEs, are non-cross-listed, and are from less-developed regions as compared to their counterparts. The findings provide implications for regulators and individual companies. Investment in corporate social responsibility (CSR) helps companies to achieve their primary objective (i.e., financial performance). With respect to practical implications, the study indicates that policymakers, executives, and managers should refrain from “one size fits all” CSR policies. Instead, they need to simultaneously evaluate the effects of regional development, cross-listing, and ownership characteristics. Considering weak social performance by firms that are from less developed regions, are non-cross-listed, and that are non-SOEs, policymakers and the government should improve information transparency and the regulatory framework, and provide these firms with incentives. This study also provides insights for other emerging economies, especially those going through extraordinary government interventions.