Board Power Hierarchy, Corporate Mission, and Green Performance

Abstract

Green governance is the only way to build a community for humankind with a shared future. Existing research has concentrated more on the macro level rather than the micro level of green governance—the power hierarchy of the governance subjects and its influence on decision-making and the implementation of green governance. The board of directors is the main green governance body, and the consciousness and conducts of the green governance of board members are determined by corporate mission. As a result, we explored the mechanism of the impact of board power hierarchy on green governance performance through the influence of green governance conduct. To interpret this mechanism, we introduced relational contract theory and conducted an empirical analysis. The results show that board power hierarchy negatively affects green governance conduct. Corporate mission restrains the board power hierarchy’s negative influence on green governance conduct, showing that board power structure has a significantly positive effect on green governance performance through the mediator of green governance conduct. Therefore, the positive role of corporate mission is identified.