ABSTRACT
As diversity on the board of directors have illustrated important results, our studies exemplify how such diversity can influence the decisions regarding corporate social responsibility (CSR). Literature regarding the importance of CSR has increased in recent years augmenting the importance in having a better understand of its importance and what affects it. Since CSR can serve as a factor in evaluating firms (Kakabadse, 2007), we examine how two aspects of diversity in the board of directors (ethnicity and gender) will impact strategic decision regarding corporate social responsibility practices. We argue that a more diversified board of directors will create a better alignment with stakeholders' interest. Our second objective is to examine if the association between board diversity and CSR will differ if the company operates at domestic or at multinational level. Previous studies have shown how some aspects of diversity may affect CSR; however, there is still a lack of understanding if the operationally level of a company may strengthen the effects of diversity on CSR. In summary, the contribution of this study is to have a better understanding of the influence of board diversity on CSR policies and whether there are different effects in regards of their operational scales.
Keywords
Corporate social responsibility (CSR), gender diversity proportion, ethnic proportion, board of directors, operational level, SPSS, and WarpPLS 5.0