Community norms and corporate philanthropy : the moderating role of women on board of directors

Purpose: This study examines how community norms, such as religious atmosphere and economic pressures, affect corporate philanthropic giving. Grounded in upper echelon theory, the authors further focus on how the women on board of directors (BODs) play an important role in the relationship between community norms and corporate philanthropic giving. Design/methodology/approach: This study utilizes a two-stage Heckman selection model to control the sample-selection bias. The final sample includes 8,566 observations for the first stage and 5,575 observations for the second stage. Then, by using a sample of Chinese listed firms in 2010–2014, this study establishes a strong and robust support for the hypotheses. Findings: This study finds that religious atmosphere is significantly and positively associated with corporate philanthropic giving, whereas the relationship between economic pressure and corporate philanthropy is negative. Furthermore, women on BODs not only strengthen the relationship between religious atmosphere and corporate philanthropic giving but also strengthen the relationship between economic pressure and corporate philanthropic giving. Originality/value: First, the authors contribute to community literature by developing a subdivided perspective. The authors provide the first attempt to empirically investigate the hidden association between the two perspectives of community (religious atmosphere and economic pressure) and corporate philanthropic giving. Second, the authors contribute to the literature on corporate philanthropy by expanding the antecedents of corporate philanthropic giving to communities where firms are headquartered. Third, by capturing the multiple identities of women, the authors enrich the study of the influence of minority groups on corporate decision-making. The authors find that gender diversity on BODs strengthen the influence of community norms on corporate philanthropic giving.