ABSTRACT Environmental interlocking directors are board members who, in addition to serving on a company's board, hold positions in environmentally certified companies (defined as those certified under ISO14001). The experience of environmental interlocking directors aids the transmission and integration of environmental and sustainable concepts, positively influencing the sustainable development of a company. We examine the relationship between environmental interlocking directors and corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores from the perspectives of information exchange and organizational imitation using a sample of listed companies in China's capital market from 2011 to 2020. We find that environmental interlocking directors have a significant and positive impact on corporate ESG scores and that internal environmental interlocking directors have a more pronounced positive impact on ESG scores than independent environmental interlocking directors. Analysis of individual director characteristics reveals that female and older environmental interlocking directors enhance the positive effect on ESG scores, while educational level appears to weaken the effect. Furthermore, external environmental regulation and state‐owned enterprise could strengthen the positive effect of environmental interlocking directors on corporate ESG scores. Our research enriches the literature on environmental interlocking directors and corporate ESG development, and adds to the scientific understanding and assessment of the positive roles of environmental interlocking directors in corporate sustainable development. Our study provides empirical evidence on how to improve corporate ESG scores and promote sustainable development in the capital market.
Wang et al. (Fri,) studied this question.