Does the CEO–Chairperson Dialect Connection Affect Corporate Carbon Emissions?

This paper examines the influence of the CEO–chairperson dialect connection on corporate carbon emissions. The results suggest that such a connection significantly increases corporate carbon emissions, and this effect is more pronounced among firms operating in highly competitive industries, non-state-owned enterprises and firms in non-heavily polluting industries. Further results show that this effect is stronger for firms with lower media coverage and for dialects that are more difficult for outsiders to understand. These findings indicate that the dialect connection increases corporate carbon emissions by weakening the monitoring effectiveness of chairpersons and by reinforcing cognitive preferences between CEOs and chairpersons. This study contributes to understanding how cultural factors shape corporate carbon emissions and suggests that informal linguistic ties can undermine corporate environmental accountability, revealing the dark side of informal connections among corporate leaders in capital markets.