Mass media, air quality, and management turnover

This study investigates whether and how local air pollution shapes firm managers’ mobility when mass media raising public awareness. To establish causality, we introduce an exogenous shock of spatial changes for air pollution by conducting spatial regression discontinuity (RD) analyses across the Huai River boundary in China. We show that air pollution has significant positive effects on firm management turnover, and the effects are strengthened by the release of the documentary Under the Dome which heighten public concerns for air pollution. Plausible mechanism is that aroused public attentions on the damages from air pollutants on human health induce managers to escape from pollution.