Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • October 2013
  • Article
  • Strategic Management Journal

How Firms Respond to Mandatory Information Disclosure

By: Anil R. Doshi, Glen W.S. Dowell and Michael W. Toffel
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

Mandatory information disclosure regulations seek to create institutional pressure to spur performance improvement. By examining how organizational characteristics moderate establishments' responses to a prominent environmental information disclosure program, we provide among the first empirical evidence characterizing heterogeneous responses by those mandated to disclose information. We find particularly rapid improvement among establishments located close to their headquarters and among establishments with proximate siblings, especially when the proximate siblings are in the same industry. Large establishments improve more slowly than small establishments in sparse regions, but both groups improve similarly in dense regions, suggesting that density mitigates the power of large establishments to resist institutional pressures. Finally, privately held firms' establishments outperform those owned by public firms. We highlight implications for institutional theory, managers, and policymakers.

Keywords

Information Disclosure; Institutional Theory; Environmental Strategy; Mandatory Disclosure; Environmental Performance; Information; Corporate Disclosure; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Performance Improvement; Environmental Sustainability; Manufacturing Industry; United States

Citation

Doshi, Anil R., Glen W.S. Dowell, and Michael W. Toffel. "How Firms Respond to Mandatory Information Disclosure." Strategic Management Journal 34, no. 10 (October 2013): 1209–1231. (Featured in The Regulatory Review.)
  • Find it at Harvard
  • Read Now

About The Author

Michael W. Toffel

Technology and Operations Management
→More Publications

Related Work

    • 12 Oct 2012
    • Faculty Research

    Environmental Disclosures: Lessons Learned from Empirical Research

    By: Michael W. Toffel
    • October 22, 2012
    • Regulatory Review

    Toxics Release Inventory: A Case Study in Information Disclosure Regulation

    By: Glen W. S. Dowell and Michael W. Toffel
Related Work
  • Environmental Disclosures: Lessons Learned from Empirical Research By: Michael W. Toffel
  • Toxics Release Inventory: A Case Study in Information Disclosure Regulation By: Glen W. S. Dowell and Michael W. Toffel
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College