Board Gender Diversity and Eco‐Innovation: The Moderating Role of Organisational Environmental Orientation

ABSTRACT Corporate sustainability has become a strategic priority in response to growing regulatory, social and environmental pressures, placing greater emphasis on governance structures, such as board composition, that shape the incorporation of ethical and sustainable values into corporate decision‐making. In this context, this study analyses the influence of gender diversity on boards of directors on eco‐innovation in products and processes, also examining the moderating role played by the environmental orientation of the organisational system. To this end, an international sample of 5340 companies from the Refinitiv Workspace database during the period 2016–2023 is used. The results show that a higher proportion of women on boards of directors significantly drive eco‐innovation in products and processes, while organisational environmental orientation has a positive effect on companies' innovative capacity. However, there is a negative moderating effect between the two variables, indicating a substitution relationship. Likewise, factors such as company size, liquidity and profitability reinforce the propensity to innovate environmentally, while global events between 2020 and 2023 acted as drivers of sustainable strategies. These results underscore the importance of integrating diversity into senior management and consolidating organisational structures committed to sustainability, creating a governance framework capable of generating environmental innovation, resilience and long‐term sustainable value.