Corporate environmental strategy (CES) is an essential component of high-quality development for organisations and society. Despite a growing stream of literature examining the determinants of CES, the role of entrepreneurs has yet to be discovered. Combining upper echelons theory with social class literature, we examine whether and how entrepreneur status perception (ESP) influences CES. Using data from the Chinese Private Enterprise Survey from 2008 to 2018, we demonstrate that entrepreneurs with high-status perceptions tend to increase investment in CES. Further, this enhancing effect of status perception on CES is moderated by managerial discretion, as a result of political identity, entrepreneur-chairman duality, firm market position and government interference. These findings extend the understanding of the antecedents of CES by revealing the critical influence of entrepreneur cognition of status and clarifying the boundary conditions of the status-CES link.
