Purpose This study investigates the relationship between directors' busyness, measured as multiple board appointments and corporate environmental performance, specifically carbon emissions. It explores whether busy directors hinder or facilitate firms' ability to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and examines how internal (board characteristics) and external (country development level) governance mechanisms moderate this relationship. Design/methodology/approach The study employs a comprehensive global dataset comprising 41 countries, and 2982 firms across diverse regions and industries, enabling a broader analysis of corporate governance practices and their environmental impact. The dataset includes firm-level carbon emission metrics, board composition details and country-level governance indicators. This study examines the hypothesized relationship by employing OLS framework with relevant industry, year and country fixed effects. Findings The analysis reveals a nonlinear relationship between directors' busyness and corporate environmental performance, specifically a U-shaped relation. While serving on multiple boards can initially enhance resource sharing and strategic insights, directors holding more than two board positions exhibit diminished monitoring effectiveness, resulting in higher carbon emissions. Furthermore, board-level mechanisms such as gender diversity, CEO duality and board independence mitigate the adverse effects of directors' busyness. The development stage of a country further moderate this relationship, with firms in developed countries showing less positive impacts. Practical implications The findings have significant implications for policymakers, regulators and corporate boards. Our results highlight the need to balance the advantages of directors' external networks against potential governance inefficiencies from excessive board appointments. Regulators may consider refining limits on multi-directorships, while firms should strengthen board governance features to counteract possible drawbacks. Originality/value This study differentiates from prior research by introducing a nonlinear perspective on directors' busyness, challenging the assumption of a uniformly negative or positive effect on carbon performance. It also uniquely integrates internal governance factors and external contextual variables to explain the variability in environmental outcomes. Unlike prior studies focused on limited geographies, this study's global scope enhances its generalizability.
Singh et al. (Fri,) studied this question.