Gender differences in CEOs' environmental strategy

According to the upper echelon's theory, "organizational outcomes-both strategies and effectiveness - are viewed as reflections of the values and cognitive bases of powerful actors in the organization" (Hambrick & Mason, 1984, p. 193). Several scholars have suggested that gender is an important characteristic that needs more focus in upper echelon research (e.g., Carpenter, Geletkanycz, & Sanders, 2004). Heeding this call, we investigate how the gender of those in the upper echelons, namely CEOs, impacts a firm's environmental strategy. On average, women are more likely to express concern for the environment and express a stronger commitment to environmental sustainability compared to men. It is possible that such gender differences in environmental concern may carry over to firm level.