Adam Smith Business School, U. of Glasgow, United Kingdom
This paper studies the impact of a chief digital officer (CDO) on corporate environmental performance. Drawing on the upper echelons theory and the attention-based view, we examine whether and under what environmental contingencies the presence of a CDO affects a firm’s environmental performance. To test our hypotheses, we use a dataset of 374 publicly traded U.S. firms and analyze their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 2005 to 2021. Our results show that the presence of a CDO has a positive impact on corporate environmental performance. Notably, we show that this positive link is intensified in contexts with lower environmental complexity, higher dynamism, and lower munificence. Thereby, we extend the understanding of the outcomes of new functional top management team members and contribute to the literature by bringing the organizational environment into the analysis. In particular, we shift the focus to previously little recognized but highly relevant non-financial performance outcomes. The results encourage managers to consider potential environmental performance outcomes and the organizational environment when deciding on the appointment and governance of a CDO role.