IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v33y2024i3p2020-2039.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Walking on the gender tightrope: Unlocking ESG potential through CEOs' dynamic capabilities and strategic board composition

Author

Listed:
  • Tim Heubeck

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between chief executive officers (CEOs) and the board of directors in the context of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. Based on a multi‐theoretical approach, it examines whether dynamic CEO capabilities (DCCs) facilitate ESG performance by enabling capable CEOs to navigate complex stakeholder expectations effectively. Additionally, the impact of board gender diversity (BGD) on this relationship is tested, given its significance for ESG‐related decision‐making. Longitudinal analysis of S&P 900 manufacturing firms demonstrates that strong DCCs positively influence ESG performance, supporting dynamic managerial capabilities and upper echelons theories within the institutional and shareholder theory frameworks. The findings also corroborate that BGD has a moderating effect, initially strengthening the DCC–ESG relationship, in line with gender socialization and diversity theories. However, the study reveals a threshold effect, where ESG benefits from DCCs diminish once BGD reaches approximately 35%, providing a new perspective on critical mass theory.

Suggested Citation

  • Tim Heubeck, 2024. "Walking on the gender tightrope: Unlocking ESG potential through CEOs' dynamic capabilities and strategic board composition," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 2020-2039, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:33:y:2024:i:3:p:2020-2039
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.3578
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.3578
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.3578?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
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jingzhuo Yu & Yong-Sik Hwang, 2024. "The Interaction Effects of Board Independence and Digital Transformation on Environmental, Social, and Governance Performance: Complementary or Substitutive?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-26, October.
    2. Tim Heubeck, 2024. "Untangling the Paradoxical Relationship Between Religion and Business: A Systematic Literature Review of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Religiosity Research," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 195(1), pages 191-214, November.

    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:bla:bstrat:v:33:y:2024:i:3:p:2020-2039. 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: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    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.