Seminar (Dept. of General Management)

Title: Shaping green reputation: Sibling competition and firm pollution

Speaker: Nianhang Xu (School of Business, Renmin University of China)

Time: 10:30am, Dec 21st, (Thursday), 2023

Venue: Room 1008, Mingde Business Building

Language: Chinese/English

ABSTRACT：

We examine the impact of sibling competition in a chairperson’s family on the environmental performance of a family firm. The findings suggest that when a firm has a sibling-chairperson, the firm has a lower level of sulfur dioxide emissions than a firm with a no-sibling chairperson. The conclusions are robust to a regression discontinuity research design and other robustness checks. Additional analysis suggests that the mechanisms behind siblings and environmental performance are consistent with a chairperson’s desire to shape a better green image due to sibling competition. We also document that a sibling-chairperson is more likely to adopt proactive environmental strategies such as increasing abatement efforts and improving green innovation, than a no-sibling chairperson. Our study sheds light on how the internal competition from family structure contributes to better sustainable environment.