ABSTRACT While the global representation of women on boards has steadily increased, regional disparities persist, with Europe leading and East Asia lagging behind. We propose that national culture moderates the impact of female directors on corporate environmental outcomes. Our empirical findings suggest that adding female directors to boards significantly enhances environmental performance in Western economies, whereas this effect is absent in East Asia. Compared to their Western counterparts, female directors in East Asia tend to be younger insiders with limited independence. The lack of independence may compromise their effectiveness. Within this cultural context, we find that only the number of independent female directors is positively associated with firms' environmental performance, particularly among firms in nonmanufacturing industries and those without institutional ownership. This study highlights the interconnectedness of the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) pillars, demonstrating how national culture moderates gender disparities in corporate environmental governance. It also sheds light on ESG strategy design in culturally conservative regions.
Chen et al. (2025) studied this question.