Conference Programme
Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available). Note that the schedule is subject to changes.
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Daily Overview |
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Research Sketches 2: Sustainability Disclosure & Reporting Location: Auditorium (Level 1) Session Chair: Mike Toffel, Harvard Business School | |
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WHEN MORE IS LESS: ABOVE-TARGET ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE AND MARKET RESPONSE AFTER POLLUTION INCIDENTS 1: Erasmus University Rotterdam; 2: Renmin University of China; 3: Tsinghua University While exceeding financial performance targets typically garners positive investor responses, the market’s reaction to above-target environmental performance (ATEP)—firms surpassing their self-set pollution reduction goals—remains theoretically ambiguous. This study addresses this gap through an abductive, exploratory analysis of U.S. publicly traded firms from 2007 to 2019. We find investors largely ignore ATEP under routine conditions. However, during pollution incidents, ATEP backfires—firms with higher ATEP face harsher market penalties. The negative effect is amplified for firms held by socially responsible investors and those with executive-certified ATEP disclosures. Additionally, penalized firms subsequently reduce reported ATEP and increase target disclosure opacity. These findings reveal context-dependent investor attention to environmental performance and highlight a dynamic feedback loop between market reactions and corporate environmental governance, offering implications for managers and policymakers. | |