In the paper, Difference in Degrees: CEO Characteristics and Firm Responses to Pressures for Disclosure, which was recently made publicly available on SSRN, we extend existing theory by examining how managerial attributes influence firm’s strategic responses to environmental issues. We argue that the characteristics of the CEO play an important role in the extent to which external environmental pressures are attended to and how they are interpreted and acted upon (Hoffman, 2001). As top managers, CEOs strongly influence whether stakeholder groups are considered salient (Delmas & Toffel, 2008; Eesley & Lenox, 2006) and how environmental issues should be addressed (Sharma, 2000).

Specifically, our research examines how firms respond to requests to disclose their environmental performance. Because the costs and benefits of disclosure are often uncertain, decisions about firm response may be subject to managerial interpretation. We therefore argue that CEO characteristics play an important role in determining whether the disclosure of environmental information is perceived as an opportunity or a threat (Sharma et al., 1999).

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