From boardrooms to greenrooms: Directors' environmental background and green innovation

Green innovation plays a crucial role in achieving sustainable development goals, particularly in countries with tremendous economic growth over a given period, such as China. Thus, our study selected a sample of Chinese A-share listed firms from 2003 to 2022 and employed the ordinary least squares (OLS) method to investigate the impact of directors’ environmental backgrounds on corporate green innovation. The outcomes show that directors’ environmental background positively and significantly affects green innovation, thereby suggesting that directors with an environmental background are more likely to promote green innovation. These outcomes are congruent with the imprinting theory and the upper echelons theory. In addition, this study examines the moderating role of industry pollution intensity and finds that the impact of directors’ environmental background on green innovation is weaker for highly polluted firms than for low-polluted firms. Further outcomes reveal that directors' environmental background stimulates green innovation more significantly in low-pollution firms. Overall, our results suggest that firms and the government should attract and retain directors with an environmental background to promote green innovation.