Prior studies based on the Theory of Planned Behavior mostly examined the effects of health and environmental concerns on organic food consumption; however, few addressed the paradoxical relationships in the context of opulent or symbolic decorum. Therefore, the novelty of this study arises from adopting a new perspective of opulence and integrating reasons for organic food purchases. Findings reveal a substantial attitude–behavior gap, despite health concerns influencing the attitude, while perceived behavioral control and subjective norms highly affect buying intentions. Influential pricing lacks significant impact on organic food consumption. Consumers are driven by healthy lifestyle choices in their purchases. By offering a novel perspective and quantifying the drivers of organic food consumption as an expression of the opulence associated with healthy lifestyle patterns and sustainable living, this study contributes substantially to the field. Notably, this research decodes the intention to buy organic food as a means to adopt healthy‐opulent‐lifestyle patterns.
{"title":"Green Is the New Gold: Redefining Opulent Lifestyle Through Organic Food Purchases","authors":"Neha Sharma, Swati Singh, Agnieszka Kabalska, Ralf Wagner","doi":"10.1002/bse.70565","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.70565","url":null,"abstract":"Prior studies based on the Theory of Planned Behavior mostly examined the effects of health and environmental concerns on organic food consumption; however, few addressed the paradoxical relationships in the context of opulent or symbolic decorum. Therefore, the novelty of this study arises from adopting a new perspective of opulence and integrating reasons for organic food purchases. Findings reveal a substantial attitude–behavior gap, despite health concerns influencing the attitude, while perceived behavioral control and subjective norms highly affect buying intentions. Influential pricing lacks significant impact on organic food consumption. Consumers are driven by healthy lifestyle choices in their purchases. By offering a novel perspective and quantifying the drivers of organic food consumption as an expression of the opulence associated with healthy lifestyle patterns and sustainable living, this study contributes substantially to the field. Notably, this research decodes the intention to buy organic food as a means to adopt healthy‐opulent‐lifestyle patterns.","PeriodicalId":9518,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and The Environment","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146070182","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The traditional supply chain, increasingly vulnerable to disruptions, requires a paradigm shift in practices in pursuit of sustainable performance. This shift makes new technologies a strategic necessity, positioning the digital supply chain (DSC) at the forefront of modern business development. The advent of digitalization in the manufacturing sector has compelled firms to achieve sustainable business performance (SBP). Drawing on the resource‐based view (RBV), this study develops and empirically tests a framework that links front‐end digital technologies—comprising DSCs, base digital technologies (BDTs), and digital twins (DTs)—with integrated supply chain capabilities and SBP. Using data collected from 463 managers across the manufacturing, logistics, and energy sectors, this research employs structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine how FETs enhance two key integrative capabilities: supply chain collaboration and supply chain activity integration. The findings reveal that the DSC, BDT, and DT each exert significant positive effects on front‐end digital technologies, which in turn enhance SBP. Moreover, FETs positively influence both supply chain collaboration capability (SCCC) and supply chain activity integration capability (SCAIC), which act as strategic mediators linking technological resources to sustainability outcomes. The serial mediation effects further confirm that FETs and supply chain capabilities jointly transform digital resources into sustainable performance advantages. This study contributes to the digitalization–sustainability discourse by offering an integrative capability‐based perspective and provides practical implications for firms seeking to align technological investments with business strategy and environmental goals.
{"title":"Synergizing Front‐End Digital Technologies and Smart Supply Chain Capabilities: A Resource‐Based Pathway to Strategic and Environmental Sustainability","authors":"Muddassar Sarfraz, Mohammed Khurrum Bhutta","doi":"10.1002/bse.70554","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.70554","url":null,"abstract":"The traditional supply chain, increasingly vulnerable to disruptions, requires a paradigm shift in practices in pursuit of sustainable performance. This shift makes new technologies a strategic necessity, positioning the digital supply chain (DSC) at the forefront of modern business development. The advent of digitalization in the manufacturing sector has compelled firms to achieve sustainable business performance (SBP). Drawing on the resource‐based view (RBV), this study develops and empirically tests a framework that links front‐end digital technologies—comprising DSCs, base digital technologies (BDTs), and digital twins (DTs)—with integrated supply chain capabilities and SBP. Using data collected from 463 managers across the manufacturing, logistics, and energy sectors, this research employs structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine how FETs enhance two key integrative capabilities: supply chain collaboration and supply chain activity integration. The findings reveal that the DSC, BDT, and DT each exert significant positive effects on front‐end digital technologies, which in turn enhance SBP. Moreover, FETs positively influence both supply chain collaboration capability (SCCC) and supply chain activity integration capability (SCAIC), which act as strategic mediators linking technological resources to sustainability outcomes. The serial mediation effects further confirm that FETs and supply chain capabilities jointly transform digital resources into sustainable performance advantages. This study contributes to the digitalization–sustainability discourse by offering an integrative capability‐based perspective and provides practical implications for firms seeking to align technological investments with business strategy and environmental goals.","PeriodicalId":9518,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and The Environment","volume":"58 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146070185","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study examines the role of managerial ability in driving environmental performance and overall environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings in the context of the European Union sustainability reporting regulations. Using a sample of 7242 firm‐year observations over the period 2015–2023, our results indicate a structural change in the relationship between managerial ability and ESG scores, documenting an inverted U‐shaped relationship after the reporting mandate came into force. Our findings suggest that, in a more demanding organizational environment, more capable managers increase sustainability performance, but only up to a saturation point, around which they optimize the costs and benefits of ESG initiatives. Furthermore, we find that the relationship between managerial ability and sustainability performance is moderated by managerial discretion. The relationship weakens after the reporting mandate becomes effective, limiting managerial discretion, but strengthens in the presence of larger boards, which provide legitimacy to managerial decisions and more discretion regarding ESG.
{"title":"Does Managerial Ability Improve Environmental Performance and Overall ESG Ratings? The Impact of the European Sustainability Reporting Mandate","authors":"Mihaela Ionașcu, Ion Ionașcu, Elena Turuianu","doi":"10.1002/bse.70570","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.70570","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines the role of managerial ability in driving environmental performance and overall environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings in the context of the European Union sustainability reporting regulations. Using a sample of 7242 firm‐year observations over the period 2015–2023, our results indicate a structural change in the relationship between managerial ability and ESG scores, documenting an inverted U‐shaped relationship after the reporting mandate came into force. Our findings suggest that, in a more demanding organizational environment, more capable managers increase sustainability performance, but only up to a saturation point, around which they optimize the costs and benefits of ESG initiatives. Furthermore, we find that the relationship between managerial ability and sustainability performance is moderated by managerial discretion. The relationship weakens after the reporting mandate becomes effective, limiting managerial discretion, but strengthens in the presence of larger boards, which provide legitimacy to managerial decisions and more discretion regarding ESG.","PeriodicalId":9518,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and The Environment","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146070230","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The aim of this research is to verify whether institutional quality affects the relationship between green innovation and firm efficiency within the high‐tech manufacturing sectors. To estimate jointly the parameters of a stochastic frontier and the coefficients of a model explaining technical inefficiency, we employed the one‐step estimation procedure proposed by Belotti and Ilardi (2018) on data taken from the Orbis database provided by Bureau van Dijk. The empirical evidence shows that institutional quality plays a crucial role in shaping the relationship between green innovation and firm efficiency. In particular, the results highlight that government effectiveness and regulatory quality are the main moderating factors. Moreover, the empirical findings show that the beneficial impact of green patents on technical efficiency is higher for micro‐firms, even though the impact of green innovation on micro‐firm efficiency appears to be more sensitive to the other two specific dimensions of institutional quality, namely, the efficiency of the judiciary system and social capital.
本研究的目的是验证制度质量是否影响高科技制造业绿色创新与企业效率之间的关系。为了联合估计随机前沿的参数和解释技术效率低下的模型的系数，我们采用了Belotti和Ilardi（2018）提出的一步估计程序，数据来自Bureau van Dijk提供的Orbis数据库。实证结果表明，制度质量在绿色创新与企业效率关系的形成中起着至关重要的作用。研究结果特别强调，政府效率和监管质量是主要的调节因素。此外，实证结果表明，绿色专利对微观企业技术效率的有益影响更高，尽管绿色创新对微观企业效率的影响似乎对制度质量的其他两个特定维度更为敏感，即司法系统效率和社会资本。
{"title":"Green Innovation and Firm Efficiency: The Role of Institutional Quality in Italian High‐Tech Manufacturing Sectors","authors":"Mariarosaria Agostino, Sandro Rondinella, Marianna Succurro","doi":"10.1002/bse.70533","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.70533","url":null,"abstract":"The aim of this research is to verify whether institutional quality affects the relationship between green innovation and firm efficiency within the high‐tech manufacturing sectors. To estimate jointly the parameters of a stochastic frontier and the coefficients of a model explaining technical inefficiency, we employed the one‐step estimation procedure proposed by Belotti and Ilardi (2018) on data taken from the Orbis database provided by Bureau van Dijk. The empirical evidence shows that institutional quality plays a crucial role in shaping the relationship between green innovation and firm efficiency. In particular, the results highlight that government effectiveness and regulatory quality are the main moderating factors. Moreover, the empirical findings show that the beneficial impact of green patents on technical efficiency is higher for micro‐firms, even though the impact of green innovation on micro‐firm efficiency appears to be more sensitive to the other two specific dimensions of institutional quality, namely, the efficiency of the judiciary system and social capital.","PeriodicalId":9518,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and The Environment","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146048462","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Chuhong Wang, Muhammad Danish Habib, Anushree Tandon, Attila Kurucz
Despite growing research on explicating travelers' decision‐making processes regarding greener travel options, there remains potential for exploring nuances of different factors and mechanisms that may encourage higher green travel. Grounded in the propositions of the push–pull–mooring framework, our study attempts to explicate whether eco‐emotions (anxiety and grief as push factors) and environmental cognitions (climate change perceptions and destination social responsibility as pull factors) influence travelers' green consumption values and green travel intentions. Data collected via Prolific from 291 green travelers was analyzed using covariance‐based structural equation modeling to test the hypothesized associations. In general, the study results affirm the hypothesized push and pull effects for green consumption values, which in turn play a mediating role to amplify the effects of push and pull factors on green travel intentions, rather than substituting for them. The findings raise significant implications for theory and also provide actionable insights for developing operating and communication strategies for industry practitioners.
{"title":"Do Eco‐Emotions and Climate Change Perceptions Influence Environmentally Conscious Decisions? Implications for Business Strategies","authors":"Chuhong Wang, Muhammad Danish Habib, Anushree Tandon, Attila Kurucz","doi":"10.1002/bse.70548","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.70548","url":null,"abstract":"Despite growing research on explicating travelers' decision‐making processes regarding greener travel options, there remains potential for exploring nuances of different factors and mechanisms that may encourage higher green travel. Grounded in the propositions of the push–pull–mooring framework, our study attempts to explicate whether eco‐emotions (anxiety and grief as push factors) and environmental cognitions (climate change perceptions and destination social responsibility as pull factors) influence travelers' green consumption values and green travel intentions. Data collected via <jats:italic>Prolific</jats:italic> from 291 green travelers was analyzed using covariance‐based structural equation modeling to test the hypothesized associations. In general, the study results affirm the hypothesized push and pull effects for green consumption values, which in turn play a mediating role to amplify the effects of push and pull factors on green travel intentions, rather than substituting for them. The findings raise significant implications for theory and also provide actionable insights for developing operating and communication strategies for industry practitioners.","PeriodicalId":9518,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and The Environment","volume":"38 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146056131","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gustavo Dalmarco, Ana Inês, Carolina de Sousa Resende, Ricardo Zimmermann
Circular startups (CSUs) play a crucial role in the circular transition by developing circular business models (CBMs) that minimise resource use and narrow material and energy loops. However, empirical research on how CBMs shape growth strategies and how ecosystems enable or constrain scaling remains limited. This study aims to fill this gap by analysing the growth strategy of CSUs, addressing their circularity, business model and scalability strategies. It analysed 44 CSUs operating in packaging and plastics, textiles and food, water and nutrients value chains, using a qualitative multiple‐case design. Results show that CSUs predominantly adopt Commercial and ecosystem scalability strategies, linking replication and geographical expansion with access to partners, resources and markets, and implementing platform‐ or waste‐based CBMs. The study expands existing frameworks by conceptualising Ecosystem Strategy as a core scalability approach and clarifying its mechanisms, offering guidance for entrepreneurs and policymakers seeking to foster circular transformation.
{"title":"Growth Strategy of Circular Startups","authors":"Gustavo Dalmarco, Ana Inês, Carolina de Sousa Resende, Ricardo Zimmermann","doi":"10.1002/bse.70567","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.70567","url":null,"abstract":"Circular startups (CSUs) play a crucial role in the circular transition by developing circular business models (CBMs) that minimise resource use and narrow material and energy loops. However, empirical research on how CBMs shape growth strategies and how ecosystems enable or constrain scaling remains limited. This study aims to fill this gap by analysing the growth strategy of CSUs, addressing their circularity, business model and scalability strategies. It analysed 44 CSUs operating in packaging and plastics, textiles and food, water and nutrients value chains, using a qualitative multiple‐case design. Results show that CSUs predominantly adopt Commercial and ecosystem scalability strategies, linking replication and geographical expansion with access to partners, resources and markets, and implementing platform‐ or waste‐based CBMs. The study expands existing frameworks by conceptualising Ecosystem Strategy as a core scalability approach and clarifying its mechanisms, offering guidance for entrepreneurs and policymakers seeking to foster circular transformation.","PeriodicalId":9518,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and The Environment","volume":"58 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146056188","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Although artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being touted to assist organizations, AI integration for sustainability efforts has been limited AND sporadic and tends to follow an ad hoc strategy. The existing literature therein focuses on the technological capabilities of AI, overlooking how organizations make sense of and strategically embed these into sustainability initiatives. Addressing this gap, this study explored the strategies that organizations utilized to integrate AI to improve sustainable initiatives in the Australian industry. Using a qualitative case study approach, data were collected through semistructured interviews with top executives and managers across operations, supply chain, and IT fields. Four strategies were discovered during the analysis, which was guided by grounded theory and organizational sensemaking theory as the sensitizing concept. The findings reveal that integrating AI for sustainability practices is a dynamic sensemaking process that reconfigures how organizations interpret value, responsibility, and interdependencies across the broader ecosystem.
{"title":"Organizational Sensemaking Theory Perspective of Developing AI‐Driven Strategies for Sustainability Initiatives","authors":"Amanda Balasooriya, Darshana Sedera","doi":"10.1002/bse.70571","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.70571","url":null,"abstract":"Although artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being touted to assist organizations, AI integration for sustainability efforts has been limited AND sporadic and tends to follow an ad hoc strategy. The existing literature therein focuses on the technological capabilities of AI, overlooking how organizations make sense of and strategically embed these into sustainability initiatives. Addressing this gap, this study explored the strategies that organizations utilized to integrate AI to improve sustainable initiatives in the Australian industry. Using a qualitative case study approach, data were collected through semistructured interviews with top executives and managers across operations, supply chain, and IT fields. Four strategies were discovered during the analysis, which was guided by grounded theory and organizational sensemaking theory as the sensitizing concept. The findings reveal that integrating AI for sustainability practices is a dynamic sensemaking process that reconfigures how organizations interpret value, responsibility, and interdependencies across the broader ecosystem.","PeriodicalId":9518,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and The Environment","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146056133","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jacqueline Jing You, Paul Hudson, Piran C. L. White, Laura J. Harrison, Alona Armstrong, Lucy Treasure, Hing Kin Lee
Biodiversity loss is an increasingly critical sustainability challenge; yet, within the Natural Resource‐Based View (NRBV), it remains undertheorised and is often treated as a generic environmental factor rather than a structuring social–ecological mechanism. This study reconceptualises biodiversity as shaping how environmental capabilities emerge and create strategic value. Drawing on an inductive qualitative approach supported by Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping, we investigate the solar farm sector in England—an ecologically embedded sector characterised by mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) requirements, complex land‐use negotiations and multi‐actor habitat management. Our analysis identifies three interconnected orientations—instrumental, integrative and ecosystem‐based—that capture distinct logics through which firms interpret biodiversity, mobilise resources and govern biodiversity‐related capabilities. The study extends the NRBV by specifying how environmental capabilities evolve in biodiversity‐dependent infrastructures and by broadening its boundary conditions. It offers a more ecologically grounded foundation for strategy and supports nature‐positive business models.
{"title":"Biodiversity as a Social–Ecological Capability: Extending the Natural Resource‐Based View in Renewable Energy Systems","authors":"Jacqueline Jing You, Paul Hudson, Piran C. L. White, Laura J. Harrison, Alona Armstrong, Lucy Treasure, Hing Kin Lee","doi":"10.1002/bse.70524","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.70524","url":null,"abstract":"Biodiversity loss is an increasingly critical sustainability challenge; yet, within the Natural Resource‐Based View (NRBV), it remains undertheorised and is often treated as a generic environmental factor rather than a structuring social–ecological mechanism. This study reconceptualises biodiversity as shaping how environmental capabilities emerge and create strategic value. Drawing on an inductive qualitative approach supported by Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping, we investigate the solar farm sector in England—an ecologically embedded sector characterised by mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) requirements, complex land‐use negotiations and multi‐actor habitat management. Our analysis identifies three interconnected orientations—instrumental, integrative and ecosystem‐based—that capture distinct logics through which firms interpret biodiversity, mobilise resources and govern biodiversity‐related capabilities. The study extends the NRBV by specifying how environmental capabilities evolve in biodiversity‐dependent infrastructures and by broadening its boundary conditions. It offers a more ecologically grounded foundation for strategy and supports nature‐positive business models.","PeriodicalId":9518,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and The Environment","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146056132","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The influence of financial advisors on retail investors' sustainable investment choices remains surprisingly underexplored, despite their potential to shape investment behavior. This study uses an experimental design to examine how sustainability‐related information provided by a digital (simulated) financial advisor affects individual demand for ESG investments. A total of 708 participants from Germany, France, Italy, and Spain were randomly assigned to either a treatment or control group and completed an incentivized allocation task after watching a video of the advisor. We find that advisor‐provided sustainability information significantly increases allocations to sustainable assets. The effect is heterogeneous: Financial literacy amplifies the treatment effect, sustainable finance knowledge has a strong direct positive impact independent of the intervention, and sustainability preferences interact with the treatment only at higher allocations. Perceived real‐world impact emerges as a key mediating channel. These results offer important insights for financial advisory practice and investor education policies.
{"title":"Nudging ESG Investments via Digital Financial Advising: Evidence From an Investment Game Experiment","authors":"Caterina Lucarelli, Manuele Citi, Matteo Pasquino","doi":"10.1002/bse.70582","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.70582","url":null,"abstract":"The influence of financial advisors on retail investors' sustainable investment choices remains surprisingly underexplored, despite their potential to shape investment behavior. This study uses an experimental design to examine how sustainability‐related information provided by a digital (simulated) financial advisor affects individual demand for ESG investments. A total of 708 participants from Germany, France, Italy, and Spain were randomly assigned to either a treatment or control group and completed an incentivized allocation task after watching a video of the advisor. We find that advisor‐provided sustainability information significantly increases allocations to sustainable assets. The effect is heterogeneous: Financial literacy amplifies the treatment effect, sustainable finance knowledge has a strong direct positive impact independent of the intervention, and sustainability preferences interact with the treatment only at higher allocations. Perceived real‐world impact emerges as a key mediating channel. These results offer important insights for financial advisory practice and investor education policies.","PeriodicalId":9518,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and The Environment","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146048464","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Drawing on institutional and stakeholder theories, this study examines how Saudi Vision 2030 and gender diversity affect ESG disclosure (ESGD) and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) contributions in nonfinancial firms. Using a mixed‐method analysis of 110 firms (2014–2019), results show that Vision 2030 significantly enhances ESGD, advancing SDG 12 (responsible consumption). Female employment (FEMP) also positively impacts ESGD, supporting SDGs 5 (gender equality) and 8 (decent work), with both Vision 2030 and FEMP operating as independent, positive drivers. In contrast, female board representation (FBR) shows no significant effect. A two‐stage least squares (2SLS) analysis confirms the causal positive impact of both Vision 2030 and FEMP on ESGD, addressing endogeneity concerns. This study provides novel empirical evidence by jointly analyzing Vision 2030, operational and board‐level gender diversity, and SDG alignment in the Saudi context, offering practical insights for policymakers and investors.
{"title":"Beyond Tokenism? Exploring the Impact of Female Employment and Board Representation on ESG Disclosure in an Emerging Economy Under National Vision and SDGs","authors":"Khalid Mujahid Alharbi","doi":"10.1002/bse.70569","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.70569","url":null,"abstract":"Drawing on institutional and stakeholder theories, this study examines how Saudi Vision 2030 and gender diversity affect ESG disclosure (ESGD) and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) contributions in nonfinancial firms. Using a mixed‐method analysis of 110 firms (2014–2019), results show that Vision 2030 significantly enhances ESGD, advancing SDG 12 (responsible consumption). Female employment (FEMP) also positively impacts ESGD, supporting SDGs 5 (gender equality) and 8 (decent work), with both Vision 2030 and FEMP operating as independent, positive drivers. In contrast, female board representation (FBR) shows no significant effect. A two‐stage least squares (2SLS) analysis confirms the causal positive impact of both Vision 2030 and FEMP on ESGD, addressing endogeneity concerns. This study provides novel empirical evidence by jointly analyzing Vision 2030, operational and board‐level gender diversity, and SDG alignment in the Saudi context, offering practical insights for policymakers and investors.","PeriodicalId":9518,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and The Environment","volume":"67 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146048465","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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