Impact of Top Management team Diversification on Green Innovation Performance in the Presence of Top Management Behavioral Integration and CEO Attributes

The study aims to investigate the effect of top management team (TMT) diversity on green innovation performance (GIP) specifically in Pakistan’s manufacturing sector, in which TMT Behavioral Integration (TMTBI) plays a mediating role and CEO attributes act as moderators in the form of duality, gender, and tenure. Using upper echelons theory as a foundation, the argument is made that TMTs with greater diversity create an enabling environment for group decision-making and knowledge exchange, while the aforementioned CEO attributes act as antecedents of this relationship by enabling or constraining strategic focus. The authors administered a survey to 294 non-financial firms listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), and structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized to analyze the relationships. The study found that TMT Diversity (TMTD) negatively impacts GIP, while TMTBI positively mediates this link, thus emphasizing the need for teamwork, which seldom translates diverse viewpoints into sustainable innovation. While CEO duality and tenure seem to strengthen the relationship between TMTD and TMTBI, gender does not have a significant moderating effect. The study further emphasizes the important role of product/process innovations as intervening variables between TMTD and GIP. By stressing the interplay between environmental performance and several internal governance structures, the present study will majorly contribute to the literature on green innovation. For practical implications, this stresses that firms should build an environment of behavioral integration in TMT members in relation to CEO on-sight leadership to help realize sustainability initiatives. Future research could be done to validate this by applying cross-industry or longitudinal studies to generalize these findings.