This study focuses on CEO hubris and its effect on corporate unethical behaviour—pollution in particular, and in addition examines critical institutional contingencies [state ownership, political connection and industrial competition] which may moderate this effect. With data from over-polluting listed firms based on the real-time pollution monitoring system in transitional China from 2015 to 2017, we find that CEO hubris is significantly positively related to firm pollution, and that the moderating role of SO is not significant, that PC positively moderates the (...) hubris–pollution relationship and that industrial competition negatively moderates this relationship. These findings contribute to research on the upper echelon theory, institutional theory and the growing literature on emerging economies. (shrink)

AbstractClimate change is a complex, multilevel challenge with implications of failure unimaginable for current and future generations. However, despite the Paris Agreement supporting the imperative for action in an atmosphere of scientific consensus, organisations are failing to take the decisive action required. We argue that this lack of organisational action needs to be addressed by examining the cognitive foundations of managerial decisions on climate change and sustainability. A systematic review of research on cognition, sensemaking and managerial interpretation where it is (...) linked to climate change or sustainability is presented within this article. The results detail a multilevel analysis highlighting key themes and the core concepts from the literature including factors shaping the cognitive process, to elucidate reasons for inaction and potential for promoting change. Through this research, an integrated model is presented demonstrating the interaction of factors, cognitive processes and outcomes. Based on this analysis, potential reasons for inaction are proposed and countered by three potential solutions linked to leadership, social norms and structural reform. (shrink)

Despite the prevalent role of guanxi in conducting business in Chinese, it is unclear whether interpersonal guanxi fosters interfirm trust. Taking a contingency approach, this study examines how institutional (government–market relationship and Buddhism influence) and individual (relative role performance and the span of partner control) factors moderate the association between interpersonal guanxi and interfirm trust. Based on a paired survey between salespersons and sales managers and two secondary datasets, this study finds that interpersonal guanxi is positively associated with interfirm trust. (...) Moreover, this positive effect is stronger when firms operate in regions with strong government–market relationships and strong Buddhism influence. In addition, the positive relationship is weaker when guanxi resides in boundary spanners who have relatively high role performance, but becomes stronger when boundary spanners have a broad span of partner control. These findings highlight the situations in which guanxi at an interpersonal level is more or less likely to foster interfirm trust. (shrink)

Despite the growing importance of stakeholder management, few studies have empirically examined the influence of stakeholder relationship capability on firm innovation, especially in emerging economies. This study investigates how SRC relates to firm innovation in the presence of governmental intervention and in combination with firm-level characteristics. Using a survey and multiple secondary datasets on the listed Chinese firms, our findings indicate that SRC is positively associated with firm innovation. Moreover, advanced legal development and high-tech status strengthen the positive link between (...) SRC and innovation, whereas state ownership and firm age weaken this relationship. These findings provide novel insights into how firms use stakeholder management to enhance innovation that is beneficial for economic growth. (shrink)

Drawing on tournament theory, we argue that when environmental goals are incorporated into the cadre evaluation system, compared to officials who are close to retirement (i.e., retiring officials), non-retiring officials may exert more effort to foster risky green innovation. Based on a sample of publicly traded firms from heavily polluting industries in China between 2008 and 2016, we hypothesize and find that confronted with severe environmental pollution, firms in provinces with non-retiring governors have higher green innovation performance than those in (...) provinces with retiring governors. Moreover, we find that this effect is stronger for firms in provinces whose governors have higher promotion anticipation, for local state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and for politically connected firms. Our study identifies the political incentives of government officials as an important antecedent of corporate green innovation and highlights the value of establishing a “green” cadre evaluation system to promote sustainable development. (shrink)

Given that services differ from goods in terms of intangibility, heterogeneity, and inseparability, customers may evaluate green services differently from how they evaluate green goods. Previous research has investigated customers’ perceptions and purchase decisions regarding green products. However, limited attention has been paid to the impact of green practices on customer evaluations of the service experience as well as important contingencies that bear on this relationship. Drawing on stakeholder theory, our study examines the impact of green practices on customer evaluations (...) and further considers the influences of environmental- and firm-level contingencies. We test our model with a multi-source dataset in the Chinese hotel industry. The findings indicate that green practices improve customer evaluations of the service experience. This positive impact is, however, weaker in external environments characterized by high internet penetration and market complexity but is stronger for hotels with innovative services and for business hotels. Our findings provide novel insights into the environmental ethics and stakeholder management literatures by revealing the role of green practices in promoting positive service evaluations as well as the contingent influences of external environments and internal firm-level characteristics. (shrink)

This paper surveys future managers’ cognitive framings of interconnected concerns for economic growth, social prosperity, and the natural environment across six countries in Latin America, and elaborates on implications for sustainability management education. Our cluster analysis unveils three cognitive types. Our findings show that whereas some future managers exhibit a ‘business case’ cognitive frame, prioritizing economic growth over the environment, the other two clusters of participants show signs of cognitive dissonance with some of the tenets of the current growth paradigm (...) while still not neatly fitting the definition of a paradoxical cognitive frame. In particular, individuals within the latter two groups do not visualize links among economic, social, and environmental dimensions that make up sustainable development. Following calls to enhance our understanding of sustainability micro-foundations, our study offers a more nuanced picture of the cognitive plurality beyond dichotomous characterizations of managerial cognitive frames as either business case or paradoxical. Moreover, results elucidate the cultural mediation that operates in the reproduction of business stances vis-à-vis nature, opening up possibilities for management education programs to engage with cognitive plurality to effect paradigmatic change. (shrink)

While China has experienced an unprecedented growth over the past decades, sustainability has become a major concern for policymakers and management practitioners. Consideration has been given to the convergence of mass entrepreneurship and innovation as a new economic driver and sustainability as a long-term economic objective. The focus of China’s economic development has moved from a resource-based expansion to a more entrepreneurial and socially responsible one. This is a timely and critical topic that captures the increasing concerns over sustainability and (...) Chinese firms’ increased responsibility under the new governmental initiatives in fulfilling their social mandates from stakeholders at different levels. It is also a rich area for academic research but still under studied in the Chinese context. More indigenous management research on corporate social responsibility is required to adopt Chinese perspectives in conceptualizing CSR-related problems and further formulating more contextualized CSR theories, the emergence of a new research horizon. (shrink)