Encouraging environmental sustainability through gender: A micro‐foundational approach using linguistic gender marking

• Published date: 01 November 2017
• Author: Amir Shoham,Sang Mook Lee,Mohammad F. Ahammad,Tamar Almor
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/job.2188
• Date: 01 November 2017

SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE

Encouraging environmental sustainability through gender: A

micro‐foundational approach using linguistic gender marking

Amir Shoham

1

|Tamar Almor

2

|Sang Mook Lee

3

|Mohammad F. Ahammad

4

1

Fox School of Business, Temple University,

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

2

School of Business Administration, The

College of Management, Rishon LeZion, Israel

3

School of Graduate Professional Studies,

Penn State Great Valley, Malvern,

Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

4

International Business Division, Leeds

University Business School, University of

Leeds, Leeds, U.K.

Correspondence

Tamar Almor, School of Business

Administration, The College of Management,

Rishon LeZion, Israel.

Email: talmor@colman.ac.il

Summary

While studies show that organizational diversity is beneficial to their practice of environmental

sustainability, we know very little about the effect that the gender of an individual director can

have on sustainability practice. In this empirical paper, we employ a micro‐foundational approach

to examine whether the number of women on an organization's board of directors has a direct

effect on its attitude towards environmental sustainability, regardless of the national culture in

which the organization is located. Culture in this study is measured through grammatical gender

marking, a unique approach to measuring women‐oriented cultural effects. Previous studies show

that certain cultures have more gender roles than others do, which in turn affect general and

organizational behavior in that society. Grammatical gender marking enables us to study the

impact of gender of the individual director on the organization's attitude towards environmental

sustainability across cultures, by empirically examining data from 71 countries, sampling 4500

organizations for multiple years and industries. Our findings show that organizations become sig-

nificantly more proactive in environmental sustainability with the appointment of even one

woman to the board of directors, regardless of the local culture. We further show that the orga-

nization's level of disclosure regarding its sustainability activities increases with the number of

women on the board of directors. Our data also show a significantly negative relationship

between various gender‐based language indices and the presence of women on the board of

directors. In cultures defined by a language that has clear grammatical gender markings, there is

a tendency to appoint fewer women to boards of directors, thereby influencing indirectly the

organization's attitude towards environmental sustainability.

KEYWORDS

environmentalsustainability, gender, linguisticgender marking, micro‐foundations

1|INTRODUCTION

Businesses are considered one of the main factors responsible for

environmental waste and pollution. The negative effects many organi-

zations have on the environment have created demands from various

stakeholders for more transparency and accountability, and for the

active involvement of these organizations in environmental sustain-

ability. For many organizations, the demand for active involvement

raises the question of how to become environmentally sustainable in

an effective way. Thus, environmental sustainability has become a crit-

ical issue for many organizations (Dixon‐Fowler, Slater, Johnson,

Ellstrand, & Romi, 2012; Jackson, Ones, & Dilchert, 2012). Most

research focused on environmental sustainability practices has

addressed organizational aspects, such as the relationship between

environmental sustainability and the performance of the organization

(Aras & Crowther, 2008; Delmas & Montiel, 2009; Moldan,

Janousková, & Hák, 2012; Porter & Van Der Linde, 1995; Russo &

Fouts, 1997), in an attempt to show why it is worthwhile for firms to

adopt behaviors that support sustainability. However, while sustain-

able behaviors may involve large investments and high costs, studies

have not been able to provide unequivocal support that such invest-

ments lead to higher performance or success (Blomgren, 2011; Callan

& Thomas, 2009; Ducassy, 2013; Michelon, Boesso, & Kumar, 2013).

In this study, we will argue that gender diversity among board

members can influence pro‐environmental attitudes of the organiza-

tion. Literature shows that diversity, specifically gender diversity

Received: 23 January 2016 Revised: 28 January 2017 Accepted: 30 January 2017

DOI: 10.1002/job.2188

1356 Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J Organiz Behav. 2017;38:1356–1379.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/job

among managers and directors, is beneficial to an organization's atti-

tude towards long‐term issues, altruistic behavior, corporate social

responsibility (CSR), and charity and improves and fosters good corpo-

rate governance (Carter, Simkins, & Simpson, 2003; Erhardt, Werbel, &

Shrader, 2003; Plessis, Saenger, & Foster, 2012; Williams, 2003). In

this paper, we show that addressing micro‐foundations of the organi-

zation can significantly and effectively change an organization's

environmental sustainability practice, without major investments, by

changing the gender composition of the board.

Most research on gender, organization, and environmental sus-

tainability is based on single‐country studies, and many of the studies

examine US companies. In this study, we examine empirically organiza-

tional attitudes towards environmental sustainability as an outcome of

board gender diversification and gender roles (culture) in a 71 different

countries over time. By using a multinational dataset that includes

qualitative and quantitative data, we are able to address this gap in

the literature.

This specific data set allows us to examine if gender affects the

organization's position regarding environmental sustainability directly,

or if this is dependent upon a given society's position regarding gender

roles. By employing the micro‐foundations approach (Felin, Foss,

Heimeriks, & Madsen, 2012) for environmental sustainability by study-

ing the quantity of women on boards of directors across cultures, we

can develop a better understanding of the factors influencing the pro-

motion of environmental sustainability among organizations, and if just

one person of a different gender on the board influences this process.

In addition, this research uses a unique approach to study the degree

of gender roles of various cultures, which is based on grammatical gen-

der marking. Linguistics helps to understand the deep roots of society

regarding gender issues. Using linguistic gender markers allows us to

distinguish between the impact of individuals and of societal values

and adds to our current understanding of the role gender plays in

micro‐foundations of the firm, by differentiating between the presence

of women on the board, and general cultural attributes of a particular

country regarding gender.We distinguish between the influence an

individual has and the general cultural attributes that exist in a country,

as these are two different issues. While it is relatively easy to appoint a

more diverse board of directors, it is nearly impossible to change cul-

tural attributes in a society. If organizations want to be more proactive

in terms of environmental sustainability, changing the make‐up of a

board is a relatively easy and efficient way to reach this goal.

This paper is organized as follows: we will first discuss the mean-

ing of the basic concepts of micro‐foundations, sustainability, and gen-

der marking. We then present our hypotheses. Next, the sample and

methodology are explained, and finally, we discuss our findings.

2|RESEARCH BACKGROUND

2.1 |Micro‐foundations of organizational behavior

According to Felin, Foss, and Ployhart (2015), micro‐foundational

research aims to locate, theoretically and empirically, the proximate

explanations of an outcome at a level of analysis lower than that of

the outcome itself. It aims to understand how individual‐level factors

impact the organization, and how interactions between individuals lead

to collective outcomes on higher levels (Barney & Felin, 2013;

Molina‐Azorin, 2014), such as the organizational, market, and industry

cluster levels (Felin et al., 2015, p. 576).

Recent studies have found that a large portion of the variance in

the performance of organizations can be explained by the “CEO effect”

(Quigley & Hambrick, 2011). Studies have shown that the CEO of an

organization can affect strategic change both positively and negatively

(Datta, Rajagopalan, & Zhang, 2003; Helfat & Peteraf, 2015; Zhang &

Rajagopalan, 2010).These studies indicate that an individual in an orga-

nization, especially those in managerial and executive functions, can

indeed have a major impact on the organization. However, most stud-

ies on micro‐foundations have focused on performance, not environ-

mental sustainability. While more companies seek to emphasize their

environmental sustainability, the antecedents that lead the company

to become more environmentally sustainable have not been examined

empirically for the role of an individual executive, and specifically the

role of those on the board of directors.

Gender diversity has been important in providing new insights and

perspectives in the behavior of boards (Galbreath, 2011), and its

potential influence on an organization's attitude regarding environ-

mental sustainability may be significant, as explained later.

2.2 |Environmental sustainability and gender

diversity

Environmental sustainability concerns the impact of the organization's

activities on geophysical environment (Aras & Crowther, 2008), as well

as the initiatives that organizations undertake to minimize their impact

on that environment. The natural environment is incessantly affected

by the economic activity of organizations, including greenhouse gas

emissions, decreases in biodiversity, deforestation, waste byproducts,

and ozone depletion. Consequently, most organizations have an envi-

ronmental impact, ranging from simply lighting offices to the emissions

and waste generated by manufacturing (Moldan et al., 2012). Organi-

zations can contribute to environmental sustainability by (i) controlling

pollution through responsible waste disposal (Russo & Fouts, 1997); (ii)

minimizing greenhouse gas emissions by using innovative production

processes and technologies; and (iii) engaging in product stewardship

by using fewer materials for producing their products, and by

disassembling them for recycling or reuse at the end of their lifecycle

(Hart, 1995). If the natural environment is compromised in the present,

future generations will be limited in their ability to access basic

resources such as clean air and water (WCED, 1987), highlighting the

significance of environmental sustainability.

Environmental responsibility or sustainability is becoming a strate-

gic issue with vital competitive implications for organizations, in terms

of risk management, cost savings, access to capital, client relations, and

human resource management. By accepting their environmental obli-

gations, organizations can earn the dependable trust of employees,

consumers, and citizens, which is the foundation for sustainable busi-

ness models.

Adopting sustainable environmental strategies requires an organi-

zation to adopt management practices that are not necessarily legally

mandated, which may include implementing environmental policies,

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