Female directors and corporate social performance of listed deposit money banks in Nigeria

Abstract

The board objective of any company is the center force that determines its overall performance and the basis for evaluation of the strength and weakness of the company. The efficacy of a board depends largely on the traits and qualities of the personalities of the directors in the boards. This paper, therefore, examines the influence of female directors on corporate social performance of listed deposit money banks (DMBs) in Nigeria. The study comprises 14 banks listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange at 31st December 2018. A sample size of 10 banks was selected using the Purposive Sampling Technique. Data were obtained from published annual reports of the selected banks for the period of 2010 to 2018. Descriptive statistics and Feasible Generalized Least Square regression (FGLS) were used to analyse data collected. The findings revealed that female board composition, female board expertise and female board independence had a statistically significant positive effect on corporate social responsibility expenditure. The implication of these findings is that the quality of female directors in companies' boards has the potential to influence the corporate social expenditures of the firms. It also implies that the focus on female representation in the boards alone is inadequate; the quality of women selected must be also considered, to promote a better social performance.