Issue framing and environmental performance: The moderating effect of board age

Do firms conceive of imperatives to improve their environmental performance as threats to their current activities or as opportunities to do things in better and more sustainable ways? We address these questions by drawing on theories of managerial cognition and issue interpretation. We find that significant environmental performance improvements of firms with older boards are more likely to arise when they perceive of material physical and regulatory climate risks. Improvement in the environmental performance of younger boards, in contrast, is more likely to be provoked by a recognition of significant opportunities associated with the climate crisis.