The In‐House Generalist: CEO Functional Experience Richness as the Double‐Edged Sword for Corporate Carbon Information Disclosure

ABSTRACT Corporate carbon information disclosure (CID) is a critical governance tool for climate change mitigation, yet corporate initiatives vary substantially despite mandatory requirements. To understand this variation, this study introduces a previously underexplored factor: CEO functional experience richness. Drawing on upper echelons and imprinting theory, we posit that functional experience richness presents a double‐edged sword: it enhances CID by bolstering corporate capacity (via competitive strategy and green innovation quality) yet it inhibits CID by dampening communication intention (via reduced investor communication). Analyses of Chinese A‐share listed firms (2010–2024) support this dual‐pathway model, revealing a net positive effect. Furthermore, this effect is amplified in contexts of high supply chain coordination costs, widespread artificial intelligence adoption, and intense public or media scrutiny, but attenuated by the presence of green investors, CEO overseas experience, and corporate green opportunism. This study moves beyond examining isolated CEO experiences by theorizing the multifaceted impact of experiential breadth, extending upper echelons theory by introducing a fundamental tension between capacity‐building and intention‐shaping pathways in environmental strategy.