What Drives Carbon‐Reducing Investments? A Vignette Experiment on Managers' Decision‐Making From a Multilevel Perspective

Rüdiger Hahn, Thomas Pioch, Daniel Reimsbach and Frank Schiemann

Business Strategy and the Environment, 2025, vol. 34, issue 3, 3008-3026

Abstract: Our study aims to shed light on the factors that drive managers' sustainability‐related decision‐making. We take a multilevel perspective, analyzing individual‐, organizational‐, and institutional‐level factors, which allows us to present a coherent account of a complex environment of influential factors. Based on an explorative vignette experiment with professional managers in a setting related to carbon‐reducing investments, we find that certain individual‐level factors, such as managers' biospheric orientation or a strong belief in business ethics, are associated with higher carbon‐reducing investments. However, these individual‐level factors do not alter the overall influence of organizational‐ and institutional‐level factors. The financial impact of carbon‐reducing investments—at the organizational level—as well as the number of carbon‐conscious investors and the regulatory disclosure regime in which a firm operates—at the institutional level—significantly drive managers' investment decisions. We find only a few instances in which specific factor combinations are decision‐relevant. These findings have important implications for research and policymaking with regard to improving corporate sustainability in general and particularly reducing corporate carbon emissions.

Date: 2025
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