Gender epic: on the road to reconciling financial success and social responsibility?

What is it about?

This study looks at how companies' efforts in social and environmental responsibility (also known as Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR) affect their financial success. It also examines how the presence of women on company boards changes this relationship. The research focuses on 120 major French companies between 2010 and 2019. The results show that companies with strong CSR practices tend to perform better financially. However, the number of women on a company’s board plays a key role in this link. When boards include around 30–40% women, the positive effect of CSR on financial performance is the strongest. But when there are more women than this, the benefit weakens—possibly because managing diverse teams can become more complex and harder to coordinate. This means that while gender diversity is important, there’s a need for balance. Companies should aim for a board that is diverse but also well-integrated. Policies that combine diversity with inclusive leadership and transparent reporting are likely to bring the best results. In short, the study highlights that CSR and gender diversity can boost company performance—but only when diversity is managed effectively.

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