Abstract

The study examined the linear and curvilinear relationships between the number of women on boards and corporate social responsibility (CSR) among medium- to large-sized publicly listed for-profit companies in Australia. The relationship was predicted as positive linear based on the resource dependence theory (RDT) and inverted U-shaped based on the integration of RDT and group structure theory. The results show a positive linear relationship between women on boards and CSR, whereas the curvilinear relationship was not significant. Our findings suggest that the presence of women on boards increases the organizations’ focus towards the CSR activities. Future research might consider the impact of women on boards on CSR in different cultural contexts or by segmenting population based on industry type.