Females on board and sustainability performance in a developing country: Evidence from Egypt

Abstract

This study aims at filling the existing research gap by scrutinizing the influence of females on management boards on sustainability performance in a developing country using cross-sectional data from the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) of non-financial companies over the period 2012–2019. To the best of our knowledge, the analysis is considered one of the earliest empirical studies that tests the relationship of females on management board and sustainability performance in Egypt. Our results indicate that female representation on board has a positive impact on sustainability performance, which demonstrates that companies that have females on their boards have a better sustainability performance. Moreover, board size and independence enhance sustainability performance. Thus, this study has imperative repercussions on users and companies’ boards in Egypt, which recommend that current Egyptian regulatory bodies would take further steps that may significantly impact the environmental, social and corporate governance imminent in Egypt