Beyond Politics: Do Directors with a Political Background Make Firms Greener?

This study examines whether former politicians on corporate boards may be helpful for the implementation of green strategies. Following a resource-based view of the firm, we argue that directors with a political background can provide firms with resources and capabilities that are valuable for meeting communication and implementation challenges of creating an effective and substantive environmental management strategy. We also consider the possibility that appointments of politicians to the board are purely symbolic acts intended to enhance the public´s image, without any change in the environmental performance of the firm. We develop testable hypotheses for each of these ideas.