Activist attacks significantly improve targeted firms’ environmental performance, latest E4S report shows

In the context of the transition towards Stakeholder Capitalism, proponents argue that environmental activists play a key role as watchdogs to push firms to make the necessary adjustments to address climate or other major issues.

But are activists effective at doing so?

The answer to this question is far from obvious. On the one hand, activists’ claims in the media/internet could tarnish a firm reputation and therefore create strong incentives for firms to make their activities more sustainable. On the other hand, environmental activists might also ‘play strategic’ and choose their targets for visibility reasons rather than focusing on the worst polluters. In that case, a positive response by firms is far from guaranteed, and unproductive conflicts rather than effective environmental transformations might occur.

In this research paper (now forthcoming in Strategic Organization) Jean-Philippe Bonardi and Estefania Amer take this question to the data through a sample of the 350 largest British firms over 10 years.

Read the report here.