This study aims to investigate the organizational mechanisms that enable firms to move from symbolic biodiversity commitments toward more substantive forms of biodiversity accountability. It examines how green governance structures (i.e. corporate social responsibility committees and environmental, social and governance-related executive compensation) foster green entrepreneurship through environmental innovation, which in turn is associated with more substantive biodiversity disclosure.
Leveraging the upper echelons theory (UET), we analyze a comprehensive global dataset of 11,595 firm-year observations from 2020 to 2024, employing a moderated mediation framework and panel regressions with year-, industry- and country-fixed effects.
Our results reveal that green governance mechanisms are positively associated with biodiversity disclosure primarily through a mediating pathway: environmental innovation. This entrepreneurial capability provides the organizational routines, knowledge and evidence that can support more credible reporting and help distinguish substantive disclosure from symbolic rhetoric. Additionally, board gender diversity acts as a significant positive moderator, strengthening the relationship between green governance and environmental innovation. Additional analyses show that governance mechanisms are more strongly associated with symbolic commitments than with substantive disclosure components, underscoring the critical role of environmental innovation in narrowing this gap.
This study contributes by integrating UET with the green entrepreneurship literature to show that environmental innovation serves as a key mediating mechanism linking governance structures to more credible biodiversity disclosure. By distinguishing symbolic from substantive disclosure and identifying board gender diversity as a boundary condition, we advance understanding of how green entrepreneurship translates governance intent into more credible biodiversity accountability.
