The interrelationships between corporate political activity and corporate environmental performance: the role of language diversity

Amir Shoham (), Jedrzej George Frynas (), Ahmad Arslan (), Ofra Bazel-Shoham (), Sang Mook Lee (), Zaheer Khan () and Shlomo Tarba ()
Additional contact information
Amir Shoham: Temple University
Jedrzej George Frynas: The Open University
Ahmad Arslan: University of Oulu
Ofra Bazel-Shoham: Temple University
Sang Mook Lee: Pennsylvania State University
Zaheer Khan: University of Aberdeen
Shlomo Tarba: University of Birmingham

Journal of International Business Studies, 2024, vol. 55, issue 9, No 10, 1204-1217

Abstract: Abstract Language affects almost every aspect of management in multinational enterprises (MNEs) but little is known about the impact of language on environmental performance. Our study investigates how language diversity affects the environmental performance of MNEs worldwide. We show that the grammatical structure of a language – specifically the first pronoun drop – is an important factor explaining the environmental performance of firms. Our analysis of 4454 company-year observations suggests that MNEs operating in societies that permit the first pronoun drop tend to have better environmental performance. Furthermore, we explore the impact of linguistic structure on the relationship between environmental performance and corporate political activity (CPA). We find that using the first pronoun drop of the local language moderates the influence of CPA on firms’ environmental performance. Our study concludes that international managers must pay greater attention to the neglected role of language in implementing environmental initiatives.

Keywords: Language; First pronoun drop; Nonmarket strategies; CPA; Environmental performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41267-024-00728-0 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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:pal:jintbs:v:55:y:2024:i:9:d:10.1057_s41267-024-00728-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... nt/journal/41267/PS2

DOI: 10.1057/s41267-024-00728-0

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of International Business Studies is currently edited by John Cantwell

More articles in Journal of International Business Studies from Palgrave Macmillan, Academy of International Business
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().