Work

Avoid or approach: How CEO power affects corporate environmental innovation

Year: 2022

Type: article

Abstract: Chief executive officers (CEOs) play a key role in corporate strategic decisions. This study explores how power, as a prominent CEO characteristic, influences environmental innovation. Building on the approach-inhibition theory of power, the attention-based view (ABV), and the literature on strategic leadership, we propose that CEOs with stronger power are more likely to allocate their attention to environmentally-friendly innovation. Panel data on Chinese listed corporations during the period to 2008–2018 were constructed and used for the empirical analyses. The results support the positive role of CEO power in promoting environmental innovation. Moreover, this positive effect becomes even stronger when the firm has more independent directors and faces greater market competition. These findings contribute to research on the approach/inhibition theory of power, strategic leadership, and growing literature on environmental innovation.

Source: Journal of Innovation & Knowledge

DOI: 10.1016/j.jik.2022.100250

Authors: Yang Zhang, Jian Li, Yaling Deng, Yi Zheng

Institutions: Hunan University of Technology and Business, Hunan University, Wuhan University of Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institutes of Science and Development

Language: English

Topic: Environmental Sustainability in Business

Subfield: Marketing

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,800