Resumo

Climate change, caused primarily by human activities, has as one of its main drivers the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal (United Nations, 2024b). It adversely impacts human health, water and food security, and the economy (IPCC, 2023). Accordingly, innovative solutions such as eco-innovation may be necessary to combat climate change and create a low-carbon society (Aldieri et al., 2022). Following Kemp and Pearson (2007), environmental innovation refers to the development or adoption of a product, service, or production process that reduces environmental impacts.

The first objective of this study is to examine whether executive gender diversity influences eco-innovation in the unique setting of Brazilian firms. Further, our second objective is to investigate the moderating role of sustainability committee on the association between executive gender diversity and environmental innovation.

According to stakeholder theory, women directors tend to establish a better relationship with stakeholders (Naciti, 2019) by considering their interests (Benaguid et al., 2023). The sustainability committee increases dialog (Burke et al., 2019) and interaction (Elmaghrabi, 2021) with stakeholders by balancing stakeholder demands (Radu & Smaili, 2021a). As a result, it reflects companies' commitment to their stakeholders (Biswas et al., 2018; Zampone et al., 2024), which paves the way for consolidating sustainability strategies (Dziri & Jarboui, 2024).

We obtain the relevant data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) Workspace (formerly known as Refinitiv). It is one of the most reliable databases worldwide for its extensive financial and non-financial data of high quality and transparency. The final sample consists of 1115 firm-year observations of 137 unique Brazilian firms from 2010-2022. We use Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) with heteroscedasticity and panel-specific AR1 autocorrelation. FGLS estimator handles heteroscedasticity, serial correlation, and cross-sectional dependence (Reed & Ye, 2011).

The results confirm that executive gender diversity does not influence environmental innovation. However, in the presence of sustainability committee, female executives has a positive effect on eco-innovation. In other words, sustainability committee positively moderates the relationship between executive gender diversity and ecological innovation.

Based on a sample of 137 Brazilian firms listed during 2010-2022, this study examines the impact of executive gender diversity on eco-innovation. Furthermore, the study investigates the moderating role of sustainability committee in this relationship. The results indicate that the presence of a sustainability committee strengthens the relationship between executive gender diversity and green innovation by satisfying stakeholders' demands for better eco-innovation performance.

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