Gender diversity, foreign directors and sector-wise corporate philanthropic giving of Islamic banks in Bangladesh

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to examine how board gender diversity and foreign directors influence the sector-wise corporate philanthropic giving (donation) of Islamic banks in Bangladesh. Design/methodology/approach Unbalanced panel data were extracted from the annual reports of Islamic banks in Bangladesh over 11 years, from 2010 to 2020. Findings The findings indicate that gender diversity significantly improves corporate philanthropic giving for the education sector but insignificantly influences corporate philanthropic giving for health and humanitarian and disaster relief sectors. In contrast, the results show that foreign directors significantly and positively affect the banks' corporate philanthropic giving for the three sectors. Research limitations/implications This paper used only secondary data extracted from the annual reports of Islamic banks in Bangladesh between 2010 and 2020. Besides, only three sectors of corporate social responsibility activities were considered. Hence, the findings could not be generalized, as the study used only data from one country. Practical implications The findings can be useful to policymakers and regulators to provide policies and regulations that ensure the appointment of women and foreign directors to boards that can competently promote Islamic banks' charitable donations. Social implications Inducing Islamic banks to provide corporate donations for activities related to education, health and humanitarian and disaster relief can contribute directly to achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) like SDG-3 (good health and well-being) and SDG-4 (quality education) and impliedly support attaining some indicators of SDG-1 (no poverty), SDG-2 (zero hunger) and SDG-10 (reduced inequality). Originality/value This study contributes to the literature by investigating how board gender diversity and foreign directors influence sector-wise corporate donations for the education, health and human and disaster relief sectors instead of aggregate donations studies concentrated by previous studies.