SPEAKER：王鹤丽 教授 (新加坡管理大学)

TIME/DATE：2025.4.22  10:00

CLASSROOM: A402

DESCRIPTION

This study investigates how firms strategically adapt to anti-ESG legislation, where institutional pressures for environmental sustainability are reversed. While existing research has primarily focused on firms’ responses to positive ESG shifts, little is known about their behaviours under negative policy changes. We argue that firms’ responses to anti-ESG legislation are not merely a reversal of pro-ESG behaviours. Instead, due to competing stakeholder demands and policy uncertainty, firms may strategically reduce environmental performance in areas with low but long-term societal impact, such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, while maintaining or even enhancing practices in areas with high but immediate societal impact, such as toxic releases. We further argue that the effect of anti-ESG policies on these two aspects of firm environmental performance is moderated by two factors: firms’ prior environmental performance and the extent of pressure from environmental NGOs. Using the staggered enactment of anti-ESG laws across U.S. states from 2021 to 2023, we apply a difference-in-differences approach to analyse changes in firms’ GHG emissions and toxic releases. Our findings offer insights into how firms navigate reversed institutional pressures and balance regulatory signals with long-term strategic considerations.

GUEST BIO

王鹤丽教授现为新加坡管理大学李光前商学院战略管理讲席教授（Janice Bellace Professor）、研究生院院长、长江学者讲座教授，曾担任Academy of Management Journal和Academy of Management Review的副主编，以及Management Organization Review的咨询编辑。王鹤丽教授的研究聚焦于企业资源基础理论、战略人力资本、利益相关者管理和企业社会责任，众多研究成果发表于战略与组织领域顶级期刊，包括Academy of Management Review、Academy of Management Journal、Strategic Management Journal、Organization Science和Journal of International Business Studies等。