The Influence of TMT Gender Diversity on Corporate Environmental Strategies: A Power Equality Perspective

Gender diversity in leadership helps organizations address environmental issues, one of the grand challenges. However, much of the existing research treats corporate environmental strategies as a monolithic concept, overlooking important distinctions between different types of environmental approaches. Based on the approach/inhibition theory of power, we argue that TMT gender diversity influences different types of TMT motivation (i.e., approach or avoidance focus), which in turn lead to distinctive environmental strategies (i.e., proactive or reactive strategies). This relationship is shaped by gender power dynamics at both regional and organizational levels. Using panel data comprising 6741 observations from firms in high-polluting industries, we find that under conditions of traditional regional gender norms or high TMT gender power inequality, gender diversity fosters reactive environmental strategies by activating TMT avoidance focus. Conversely, when TMT gender power inequality is low, gender diversity promotes proactive environmental strategies by activating TMT approach focus. This study highlights the critical roles of gender power equality and team psychological motivations in shaping the impact of female TMT representation on corporate environmental strategies.