The role of multiple board directorships in sustainability strategies: symbol or substance?

Francisco Bravo-Urquiza () and Nuria Reguera-Alvarado ()
Additional contact information
Francisco Bravo-Urquiza: University of Seville
Nuria Reguera-Alvarado: University of Seville

Review of Managerial Science, 2025, vol. 19, issue 3, No 6, 898 pages

Abstract: Abstract Multiple board directorships are a global phenomenon in the business environment and have come under intense debate from regulators, professionals, and academics alike. At the same time, sustainability has become a major challenge for firms in the current scenario. The main objective of this paper is to investigate whether multiple directorships lead firms to symbolic or substantive sustainability strategies. After performing different methodological approaches and robustness tests, our findings highlight that multiple directorships lead to symbolic sustainable development by significantly intensifying environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting practices, although this is not supported by substantial ESG actions. This symbolic behaviour is even more evident in socially and environmentally sensitive industries. Given the ongoing regulatory and professional discussions concerning multiple board directorships, the ever-increasing importance of sustainability and the significant consequences of symbolic ESG strategies, our paper has direct implications for firms in the selection of board members, as well as for regulators and professionals when refining their legislation and recommendations concerning boards.

Keywords: Board of directors; Multiple directorships; Sustainability strategies; ESG reporting; Symbolic ESG (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11846-024-00778-6 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:rvmgts:v:19:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s11846-024-00778-6

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/business/journal/11846

DOI: 10.1007/s11846-024-00778-6

Access Statistics for this article

Review of Managerial Science is currently edited by R. Ewert and W. Kürsten

More articles in Review of Managerial Science from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().