Across the boards: explaining firm support for climate policy

Lerner, Michael and Osgood, Iain (2022) Across the boards: explaining firm support for climate policy. British Journal of Political Science. ISSN 0007-1234

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Abstract

When do corporations stop ignoring or opposing climate action and start to go green? We focus on the role of corporate boards of directors, which shape firms' positions on internal and external issues of corporate governance and public policy. We argue that board decisions to engage constructively on climate issues are likely to be influenced by the choices and experiences of other firms. Learning, socialization, and competitive dynamics are especially important in highly salient and rapidly evolving policy areas, such as climate change. To test this theory, we construct the network of board memberships for US public corporations and uncover robust evidence that climate innovations diffuse among companies that share board members in common and among companies whose board members interact at separate boards. Understanding the unfolding dynamics of corporate climate action requires examining corporate boards and their social context.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2022 The Author(s).
Divisions:	Government
Subjects:	J Political Science
Date Deposited:	12 Sep 2022 11:00
Last Modified:	15 Sep 2023 17:19
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/116596

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