Ownership structure, board gender diversity and charitable donation

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to examine the effect of ownership structure and board gender diversity on charitable donations for a group of listed electronics companies in Taiwan. Design/methodology/approach Using linear regression analysis, this paper analyses the ownership structure, board gender diversity and charitable donations of 380 Taiwanese electronics companies (2011-2013). Findings While domestic institutional investors, such as domestic mutual funds and corporate investors, take more of agency logic view, it negatively impacts on charitable donations. However, the empirical findings of this paper indicate that board gender diversity with the critical number of female directors was positively related to charitable donation. Thus, it is clear that female directors reaching critical numbers were taking more of a stakeholder view of institutional logic, emphasizing the balance of interests of internal and external stakeholders. Research limitations/implications This paper is limited to selected Taiwanese electronics companies over a two-year time frame, and charitable donations are the only proxy of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity. The paper suggests that, as predicted by stakeholder theory and critical mass theory, companies with boards composed of at least three female directors make higher charitable donations. Practical implications This paper indicates that female directors on the board should have more voices on the board regarding the necessity and importance of CSR. Originality/value The paper contributes to existing literature by looking into the effects of ownership structure and board gender diversity on charitable donations.