Corporate governance literature argues that board diversity is potentially positively related to firm performance. This study examines the relationship in the case of women in top executive jobs and on boards of directors. We use data for the 2500 largest Danish firms observed during the period...

Existing research and practical evidence highly question whether institutional investor truly walk the talk when it comes to fostering corporate sustainability (CS) in their investee companies, or merely engage in greenwashing. This study investigates how responsible institutional investors...

We assess whether a VC’s intrinsic commitment to a startup affects investment performance. We proxy for climate change commitment using the political contributions to democrats of the lead VC person on a deal. We find investments by democrats in climate-related startups have 8% higher...

We provide the first, large sample evidence on firms’ voluntary, third-party verification of environmental and social metrics in ESG reports (“ESG assurance”) in the United States. Focusing on S&P 500 firms from 2010-2020, we document a striking increase in ESG assurance. Unlike financial...

Implementing the complex Agenda 2030, with its high global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires, in the by now short time horizon of reference, an extraordinary effort, at all institutionals and private levels, to converge effectively on the whole system of intermediate and interrelated...

Using data from over 2,000 professionals in 24 large corporations, we show that female leaders shape the relational culture in the workplace differently than male leaders. Males form homophilic professional ties under male leadership, but female leadership disrupts this pattern, creating a less...