Employee health and safety policy and firm performance: does board gender diversity make a difference?

Purpose Employee well-being has become an increasingly prominent focus for business professionals and policymakers in the United States. This study aims to use signaling theory to analyze the effect of employee health and safety policy on firm performance with a moderating role of board gender diversity. Design/methodology/approach This study’s sample consists of 3,358 listed firms in the US over a 12-year period from 2011 to 2022. The panel data comprising 20,634 firm-year observations were analyzed using regression analyses. Findings The results reveal a positive relationship between employee health and safety policy and firm performance, indicating its beneficial effect over time. In addition, gender diversity in board members moderates the health and safety policy and firm performance relationship; when boards are gender diverse, they are more likely to adopt employee health and safety policy, ultimately fostering firm performance. Originality/value To the best of the author’s/authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to empirically examine the impact of firm level employee health and safety policy on firm performance with the moderating role of gender board diversity. Methodologically, panel data offers several advantages over cross-sectional data.