IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/corsem/v33y2026i4p4973-5000.html

Governance for Pension Plans' Sustainable Transition: The Moderating Role of Corporate Social Identity

Author

Listed:
  • Elisa Bocchialini
  • Paola Ferretti
  • Federica Ielasi

Abstract

Pension plans may either limit their sustainability approach to commercial purposes or adopt governance practices aligned with sustainability principles, thereby strengthening their Corporate Social Identity (CSI). This paper explores the moderating role of CSI in the relationship between traditional corporate governance mechanisms and pension plans' sustainable investment choices. The study covers a representative sample of Italian pension funds, social welfare funds, and individual pension plans. It employs proprietary survey data collected through ad‐hoc questionnaires for the period 2021–2023, combined with detailed hand‐collected information on governance structures and board members' characteristics. The results confirm the main assumptions of the Upper Echelons Theory, showing that directors' demographic and cognitive characteristics significantly shape the sustainability orientation of pension funds. CSI further amplifies these effects by moderating the relationship between governance attributes and ESG investment choices. The study highlights the role of internal governance mechanisms and organisational culture in the sustainable transition of pension funds and extends the application of the Upper Echelons Theory by introducing CSI as a complementary governance dimension.

Suggested Citation

  • Elisa Bocchialini & Paola Ferretti & Federica Ielasi, 2026. "Governance for Pension Plans' Sustainable Transition: The Moderating Role of Corporate Social Identity," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(4), pages 4973-5000, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:33:y:2026:i:4:p:4973-5000
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.70418
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.70418
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/csr.70418?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:33:y:2026:i:4:p:4973-5000. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1535-3966 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.