ABSTRACT
The Chapter focuses on environmental sustainability and provides a better understanding of the corporate governance levers that can direct behaviours towards environmental goals. We explore the relationship between risk culture and board members’ intention to adopt pro-environment strategies (PES) through individual beliefs. These factors, according to Ajzen’s theory of planned behaviour (ATPB), refer to what is convenient to do to achieve expected findings (behavioural beliefs), what should be done as required by regulators and induced by stakeholders’ pressure (normative beliefs) and the conviction of possessing skills, resources, opportunities to perform a specific behaviour (control beliefs). According to ATPB, behavioural beliefs, normative beliefs and control beliefs represent, in turn, predictors of an individual’s attitudes, subjective norms and perceived control beliefs. All these variables affect the intention to perform a behaviour and, in this case, to adopt pro-environmental strategies. The research analyses data obtained from a survey of 120 Italian board members, using a partial least square methodology to test the relationship between individual risk culture and beliefs, attitudes and norms and, finally, intention to adopt pro-environment strategies (PES). Our findings add to previous work on the role of risk culture and provide a new theoretical perspective to guide green policy and changes aimed at increasing environmental sustainability.
Schwizer, Paola G and Cosma, Simona and Nobile, Lorenzo, Risk Culture and Sustainability (September 20, 2023). An edited version of this paper will be published in The Cambridge Handbook of EU Sustainable Finance: Regulation, Supervision and Governance (K Alexander, M Gargantini and M Siri eds), Forthcoming; University of Genoa EUSFiL Law Research Working Paper Series No 9.
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