As the global climate crisis intensifies, firms face mounting pressure to make their strategies and processes more sustainable. One way to tackle this challenge lies in pursuing a strategy that strengthens green innovation. Upper echelon theory suggests that the characteristics of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) are critical factors that shape firm strategy and ultimately its performance. As for innovation strategy and outcomes, existing literature suggests that the gender of the CEO is a crucial factor, with male CEOs often displaying a stronger inclination toward pursuing innovation. While we acknowledge these insights, we also argue that this relationship is much more complex when it comes to green innovation, i.e., innovations that reduce firms’ impact on the environment and its use of natural resources. In fact, we identify a tension: male CEOs tend to be more involved in innovation activities, while female CEOs demonstrate a distinctive environmental awareness. The relationship between CEO gender and green innovation is therefore less clear. Our analysis of 13,784 firm-year observations of US-listed firms over 23 years aligns with previous research, showing that having a male CEO is associated with increased innovation. However, we also uncover empirical evidence indicating that female CEOs are more actively involved in green innovation. Significantly, we discover that the association between female CEOs and green innovation is context-sensitive, with slack resources attenuating the positive link. This study contributes to the literature about green innovation by uncovering the role of CEO gender for sustainability.
