IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-05252371.html

Shareholder activism on climate issues: The role of framing and stakeholder systems

Author

Listed:
  • C. Girard-Guerraud

    (Audencia Business School)

  • Y. Rannou
  • S. Alioui

Abstract

Shareholder activism is an important driver of corporate change. It has become a prominent organisational phenomenon that has been mainly studied within activist-firm dyads, providing only a partial understanding of the overarching process, and the actors involved. Noting these limitations, this study develops a system-level view of activism that captures the connections between shareholder activists, firms, and stakeholders. In the European context of shareholder activism on climate issues, we explore its structural and dynamic dimensions by examining the interdependencies between shareholder activists and a stakeholder systems comprising organisational stakeholders, climate and stewardship experts that help shareholder activists converge their collective actions within coalitions. We conceptualise shareholder activism as a dynamic process structured around three embedded frames: disclosure-seeking, financial materiality, and double materiality. The disclosure-seeking frame is motivational, whereas the financial and the double materiality frames are diagnostic and prognostic, respectively. Our findings show that collective actions of shareholder activists produce ripple effects between these frames at a systems level. We highlight a clear shift towards the financial and double materiality frames reflecting an increasing alignment between financial interests and environmental impact. These results support the system-level view of shareholder activism that should be extended to other environmental issues.

Suggested Citation

  • C. Girard-Guerraud & Y. Rannou & S. Alioui, 2025. "Shareholder activism on climate issues: The role of framing and stakeholder systems," Post-Print hal-05252371, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05252371
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-8551.70005
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05252371v2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-05252371v2/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1467-8551.70005?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roulet, Thomas J. & Bothello, Joel, 2022. "Tackling Grand Challenges beyond Dyads and Networks: Developing a Stakeholder Systems View Using the Metaphor of Ballet," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 32(4), pages 573-603, October.
    2. Gantchev, Nickolay, 2013. "The costs of shareholder activism: Evidence from a sequential decision model," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(3), pages 610-631.
    3. Jennifer Goodman & Céline Louche & Katinka Cranenburgh & Daniel Arenas, 2014. "Social Shareholder Engagement: The Dynamics of Voice and Exit," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 193-210, December.
    4. JOSEPH A. McCAHERY & ZACHARIAS SAUTNER & LAURA T. STARKS, 2016. "Behind the Scenes: The Corporate Governance Preferences of Institutional Investors," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(6), pages 2905-2932, December.
    5. Rieneke Slager & Kevin Chuah & Jean-Pascal Gond & Santi Furnari & Mikael Homanen, 2023. "Tailor-to-Target: Configuring Collaborative Shareholder Engagements on Climate Change," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(12), pages 7693-7718, December.
    6. Emilio Marti & Martin Fuchs & Mark R. DesJardine & Rieneke Slager & Jean‐Pascal Gond, 2024. "The Impact of Sustainable Investing: A Multidisciplinary Review," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(5), pages 2181-2211, July.
    7. Tamas Barko & Martijn Cremers & Luc Renneboog, 2022. "Shareholder Engagement on Environmental, Social, and Governance Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(2), pages 777-812, October.
    8. Mats Andersson & Patrick Bolton & Frédéric Samama, 2016. "Governance and Climate Change: A Success Story in Mobilizing Investor Support for Corporate Responses to Climate Change," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 28(2), pages 29-33, June.
    9. Philipp Krueger & Zacharias Sautner & Laura T Starks, 2020. "The Importance of Climate Risks for Institutional Investors," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(3), pages 1067-1111.
    10. Guillermo Casasnovas & Jessica Jones, 2022. "Who Has a Seat at the Table in Impact Investing? Addressing Inequality by Giving Voice," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(4), pages 951-969, September.
    11. Gosling, Tom, 2024. "Universal owners and climate change," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 126532, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Rob Bauer & Jeroen Derwall & Colin Tissen, 2023. "Private Shareholder Engagements on Material ESG Issues," Financial Analysts Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 79(4), pages 64-95, October.
    13. Mattias Wahlström & Magnus Wennerhag & Christopher Rootes, 2013. "Framing “The Climate Issue”: Patterns of Participation and Prognostic Frames among Climate Summit Protesters," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 13(4), pages 101-122, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Habermann, Florian & Steindl, Tobias, 2025. "Stock market reactions to a sovereign wealth fund's broad-based public sustainability engagement: European evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    2. Dasgupta, Amil & Fos, Vyacheslav & Sautner, Zacharias, 2021. "Institutional investors and corporate governance," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 112114, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Azar, José & Duro, Miguel & Kadach, Igor & Ormazabal, Gaizka, 2021. "The Big Three and corporate carbon emissions around the world," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 674-696.
    4. Böhm, Adrian & Eufinger, Christian & Kadach, Igor & Sakasai, Yuki, 2025. "Green banking illusion? The influence of “Eco-Conscious” bank shareholders on credit allocation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    5. Ringe Wolf-Georg, 2023. "Investor Empowerment for Sustainability," Review of Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 74(1), pages 21-52, April.
    6. Artiga González, Tanja & Calluzzo, Paul, 2020. "A new breed of activism," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    7. Zhang, Bobo & Zhang, Zhou, 2022. "Shining light on corporate political spending: Evidence from shareholder engagements," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    8. Sirin, Selahattin Murat & Yilmaz, Berna N., 2025. "Tech firms and the renewable energy sector: Exploring the moderating effects of institutional ownership on financial connectedness," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    9. Loureiro, Gilberto & Mendonça, Cesar, 2024. "Do large registered investment funds undermine shareholder activism? Evidence from hedge fund proposals," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    10. Kim, Sehoon & Kumar, Nitish & Lee, Jongsub & Oh, Junho, 2025. "ESG lending," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    11. Silvana Signori & Helen Alford, 2025. "Can Shareholder Activism be aVirtuous Practice?," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 479-501, December.
    12. Amos M. Kimunya & Amos Njuguna & Francis Wambalaba, 2019. "Shareholder loyalty and firm value creating outcomes in Kenya," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 8(5), pages 212-219, September.
    13. Ströbel, Johannes & Wurgler, Jeffrey, 2021. "What do you think about climate finance?," CEPR Discussion Papers 16622, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Boermans, Martijn Adriaan & Galema, Rients, 2025. "Carbon home bias of European investors," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    15. Maxime Couvert, 2025. "What Are the Firm Value Implications of SEC-Challenged Shareholder Proposals?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 71(6), pages 4728-4756, June.
    16. Marco Fanari & Enrico Bernardini & Elisabetta Cecchet & Francesco Columba & Johnny Di Giampaolo & Gabriele Fraboni & Donatella La Licata & Simone Letta & Gianluca Mango & Gabriele Fraboni, 2025. "Stewardship Policies. A Survey of the Main Issues," Mercati, infrastrutture, sistemi di pagamento (Markets, Infrastructures, Payment Systems) 65, Bank of Italy, Directorate General for Markets and Payment System.
    17. Samuel B. Bonsall IV & Babak Mammadov & Blerina Bela Zykaj, 2025. "Institutional Investors with Disciplinary History and CSR Behavior of Investee Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 200(4), pages 813-840, September.
    18. Cheng, Louis T.W. & Shen, Jianfu & Wojewodzki, Michal, 2023. "A cross-country analysis of corporate carbon performance: An international investment perspective," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    19. Edmans, Alex & Gosling, Tom & Jenter, Dirk, 2023. "CEO compensation: Evidence from the field," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(3).
    20. Simon Döring & Wolfgang Drobetz & Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Henning Schröder, 2023. "Foreign Institutional Investors, Legal Origin, and Corporate Greenhouse Gas Emissions Disclosure," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(4), pages 903-932, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:hal:journl:hal-05252371. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.