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Leadership and decision-making: Top management team age demographic and environmental strategy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2020

Anupam Kumar Open the ORCID record for Anupam Kumar [Opens in a new window]
Anupam Kumar*
Affiliation:
Howard University, 2600 6th St NW, Washington, DC 20059, USA
*
Corresponding author. Email: anupam.kumar@howard.edu
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Abstract

This research examines the characteristics of the age demographic of a top management team (TMT) as drivers of a firm's environmental management (EM) strategy comprising compliance-only and beyond-compliance initiatives. Using a matched sample of publicly listed firms in Kinder, Lydenberg, and Domini and Bloomberg, panel data regression techniques on a unique dataset of 3,251 firm-year observations suggest that a link does exist. Driven by a desire for legacy and a preference for risk-averse decisions, aging TMTs will support beyond-compliance initiatives. On the other hand, age diversity is expected to enhance the innovative potential of a TMT for solving pressing compliance-related environmental issues. The study finds that aging TMTs support beyond-compliance as compared to compliance-only EM strategies. TMT age diversity, though helpful in developing compliance-only initiatives, is not instrumental in driving beyond-compliance initiatives. The study highlights the challenges in developing a comprehensive EM strategy suggesting paths for future research.

Keywords

environmental strategy leadership agetop management teamgenerativitypanel study
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 29 , Issue 1 , January 2023 , pp. 69 - 85
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2020

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