Female relational capital and sustainable growth. The materiality of gender equality among the ESG strategies

Relational dimension of female intellectual capital brings women in business to be more focused on cooperation and networking (Dal Mas and Paoloni, 2020, Heisig and Kannan, 2020) for their need to gain support from the connection between work, family, and the community of stakeholders (Aldrich et al., 1997). Also, women prefer a cooperative approach and tend to act less hierarchically, soothing and encouraging colleagues to interact due to their innate female relational traits and social skills such as communal and nurturing behavior (Eagly et al., 2003, Eagly and Wood, 2012). Most research on female relational capital has been conducted bearing in mind the traditional logic of profit maximization. Nevertheless, using the lens of the publicness theory (Bozeman, 2013), we claim that relational capital might become the driving force that enables female leaders to reach strategic competitiveness in terms of economic, public, and social value creation not only for shareholders but also for the entire ecosystem (Arena et al., 2024, Chin et al., 2023, Prencipe et al., 2023). Despite their superior ability to establish and maintain interpersonal ties, women are still underrepresented at institutional, political, and economic levels, and there is a huge gender gap in employment and leadership. The Italian story about voluntary action versus regulations acknowledges that the topic of gender equality is highly connected to compulsory quotas, codes, and the effective participation of women on board, in C-suite positions, and across executive leaders (Mazza et al. 2024). Gender equality has also been associated to the outcomes it produces in terms of GDP and employment rate (EIGE 2017). Here the theme is that of sensitivity to gender equality among the ESG strategies of environmental sustainability, social inclusion, and good governance so that organizations could drive sustainable growth and create a more inclusive future. Since 2024, the EFRAG European Sustainability Reporting Standards have required companies in the scope of CSRD to disclose information on material IROs related to environmental, social and governance issues. Therefore, gender equality shall be mandatorily reported among the sustainability-related matters or will be reported as a result of the materiality assessment. Starting from the belief that gender equality matters for the creation of economic, environmental, and social value, this study aims at mapping how material the topic of gender equality is among the Non-Financial Reports presented by Italian companies in 2023, in order to provide a reference point before the application of ESRSs in 2024 and appreciate the current level of sensitivity by corporate governance bodies about the relevance of gender equality in ESG. We will run a content analysis (Corvino et al., 2019) of the Non-Financial Reports presented by Italian companies in 2023 to capture specific features of corporate disclosure on: - financial and non-financial undertakings; - mandatory or a voluntary base of the reports; - whether information is included in the Management Report or separate; - analysis of the materiality of the topic in terms of n. of pages, qualitative or quantitative judgements, reference to double materiality; - environment, social or governance sustainability area in which the topic of gender diversity is reported as material; - tools for managing gender inequities such as Policies, Actions and Targets to measure the achievement of the objectives; - correlation between the presence of women in governance bodies and the perceived relevance of the materiality of gender equality. We expect to find a minimum disclosure in the governance-related material matters since women’s involvement in the governance of organizations is essential for promoting gender equality and fairness. Besides, increased women representation in the governance bodies enhances financial performance and leads to more responsible and sustainable practices (Paolone et al. 2024). We also expect to find a minimum disclosure in the social-related material matters as gender equality is traditionally connected with social development. Women bring different ways of thinking, are more attuned to social responsibility and create superior value not only for shareholders but also for the broader society (Moulton, 2009; Steccolini, 2019). We finally expect to find a nought or a very limited disclosure on climate-related material matters even though climate change can exacerbate existing inequalities for its disproportionate impact on women who bear the effect of climate-related disasters, loss of livelihoods, and increased care burdens. Moreover, women might also act as key stakeholders in driving environmental sustainability and contributing to effective mitigation strategies thanks to their distinctive traits and skills (Eagly and Wood, 2012).