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Boards and Sustainability: the Contingent Influence of Director Interlocks on Corporate Environmental Performance

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  • Natalia Ortiz‐de‐Mandojana
  • Juan Alberto Aragon‐Correa

Abstract

This paper highlights the importance of a firm's board with respect to sustainability issues by analysing the relationship between director interlocks, i.e. directors who simultaneously belong to the boards of directors of several companies, and a firm's environmental performance. The previous literature has focused on the influence of firm‐level resources on corporate environmental performance. This study utilizes insights from a resource‐based view and research on social capital to demonstrate that the environmental performance of a firm is also influenced by the difficult‐to‐imitate capabilities that are embedded in the network relationships of its directors. Our results support a contingency perspective of the social capital theory that finds that director interlocks are positively connected with the environmental performance of a firm in two specific situations: (1) when the firm is linked to a larger parent company and (2) in cases of low and high levels of interlock diversity. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

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  • Natalia Ortiz‐de‐Mandojana & Juan Alberto Aragon‐Correa, 2015. "Boards and Sustainability: the Contingent Influence of Director Interlocks on Corporate Environmental Performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(6), pages 499-517, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:24:y:2015:i:6:p:499-517
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.1833
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    6. Tobias Bauckloh & Stefan Schaltegger & Sebastian Utz & Sebastian Zeile & Bernhard Zwergel, 2023. "Active First Movers vs. Late Free-Riders? An Empirical Analysis of UN PRI Signatories’ Commitment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(3), pages 747-781, January.
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    9. Hailiang Zou & Xuemei Xie & Guoyou Qi & Mengyu Yang, 2019. "The heterogeneous relationship between board social ties and corporate environmental responsibility in an emerging economy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 40-52, January.
    10. Wenhao Qi & Zhixiong Huang & Hasan Dinçer & Renata Korsakienė & Serhat Yüksel, 2020. "Corporate Governance-Based Strategic Approach to Sustainability in Energy Industry of Emerging Economies with a Novel Interval-Valued Intuitionistic Fuzzy Hybrid Decision Making Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-19, April.
    11. James J. Cordeiro & Giorgia Profumo & Ilaria Tutore, 2020. "Board gender diversity and corporate environmental performance: The moderating role of family and dual‐class majority ownership structures," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1127-1144, March.
    12. Carolina Villamil & Sophie Hallstedt, 2021. "Sustainabilty integration in product portfolio for sustainable development: Findings from the industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 388-403, January.
    13. Jing Lu & Dongning Yu & Fereshteh Mahmoudian & Jamal A. Nazari & Irene M. Herremans, 2021. "Board interlocks and greenhouse gas emissions," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 92-108, January.
    14. Tantawy Moussa & Amir Allam & Said Elbanna & Ahmed Bani‐Mustafa, 2020. "Can board environmental orientation improve U.S. firms' carbon performance? The mediating role of carbon strategy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 72-86, January.
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    17. Karen Maas & Sanne Rosendaal, 2016. "Sustainability Targets in Executive Remuneration: Targets, Time Frame, Country and Sector Specification," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(6), pages 390-401, September.

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