Evidence on the effects of ownership, control, and board characteristics on firms’ environmental orientation

Aligned to public and private green transition agendas, academic literature over the past two decades has increasingly studied the firm level drivers behind firm environmental performance. Specifically, the decisions and actions of the individuals exerting control over the firm have been found to be interrelated with firm environmental performance. This thesis contributes to this stream of literature by employing a novel datasets and meta-analysis to shed light on different facets of firm environmental performance and its relationship with (i) board of directors’ characteristics, (ii) gender diversity at the board level, and (iii) family ownership. Given the multitude of facets of environmental performance; global evidence from novel datasets, unexplored research avenues, and aggregated meta-analytical work can provide additional depth to firm management, ownership, policymakers, and scholars interested in understanding how corporate control characteristics drive firm green performance. This thesis is made up of three stand-alone papers that have been drafter over the course of the doctoral degree. The first paper examines the relationship between board characteristic (gender diversity, board size, board independence, and CEO duality) and firms’ environmental SDGs adoption. Secondly, meta-analysis is employed to analyze the relationship between board gender diversity and different measures of environmental performance. Finally, the last paper focuses on relationship between family ownership and control and firms’ propensity to issue green bonds. The results of this studies confirm the view that the characteristics of governance, ownership and control and control can contribute to impact firms’ green agendas and their implementation.