Career embeddedness leads toward innovation: The impact of chief executive officer (CEO) career embeddedness on green innovation

Abstract

We employed a sample of Chinese A-listed firms from 2015 to 2021 and attempted to shift career embeddedness literature to the CEO’s domain by theorizing how CEOs’ career embeddedness influences their strategic choices, especially “going green”. Drawing on human capital theory, upper echelon view, and imprint theory related to career embeddedness, we theorize that CEO career embeddedness is positively correlated with strategic decision-making (green innovation). We also analyze the moderating role of internal governance mechanisms (women CEO duality and gender diversity). Our empirical outcomes indicate that the positive relationship between CEO career embeddedness and green innovation is stronger when females have dual roles (CEO and chair) but weaker when there is a female is on board. These results suggest that female’s dual role (CEO and chair) makes them more powerful and gives them freedom and dominance in decision-making. On the contrary, the positive association between CEO career embeddedness and green innovation is weaker because females are risk-averse and conservative, and they reduce the CEO's propensity for quality strategic decisions when they are on board. Our outcomes provide evidence for regulators, policymakers, and all stakeholders with regard to the effectiveness of CEO career embeddedness for promoting green innovation.