Do all female directors have the same impact on corporate social responsibility? The role of their political connection

Previous studies generally assume that all female directors have the same level of social orientation and equal impact on corporate social responsibility (CSR). However, we argue that they may differ in social orientation due to their past experience. As political experience is predicted to strengthen social orientation, we differentiate female directors into those who are politically connected and those who are politically disconnected. On this basis, we tested the differential impact of these two types of female directors on CSR. Drawing upon upper echelons theory, we argue that politically connected female directors are more socially oriented than politically disconnected female directors and consequently have a stronger positive effect on CSR. Using a sample of Chinese publicly listed firms on the Shanghai or Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2007 to 2015, we find that the results support our proposition. Further, we find that state ownership moderates the relationship between politically connected female directors and CSR such that the relationship is weaker in organizations with higher state ownership. These findings add to the current research by offering a nuanced understanding of the effect of politically connected female directors on CSR and addressing the limitation in this line of research that assumes all female directors are homogeneous in their impact on CSR.