Engendering Pro-Sustainable Performance Through a Multi-Layered Gender Diversity Criterion: Evidence From the Hospitality and Tourism Sector

Abstract

This study seeks to examine the influence of multi-layered gender diversity mechanisms on firms’ decision to engage in pro-sustainable performance in the context of Hospitality and Tourism (H&T) firms worldwide. Using Powell’s Panel Quantile Regression (PQR) model, this paper finds that females on boards and sub-boards tend to display a more communal, participative, and democratic leadership style, demonstrating greater responsibilities toward stakeholders’ concerns and engaging with sustainability strategies to make a positive contribution to society. Our findings also reaffirm that women on the boards of H&T firms are more community-oriented and philanthropically driven than women in senior management positions who can be perceived as being profit-oriented rather than stakeholder-oriented as managers. Our results offer implications for policymakers and practitioners, and we suggest several avenues for future studies that could build upon our research.