This study follows a theory‐based approach to examine both environmental and organizational factors related to chief sustainability officer (CSO) positions. We argue that the creation of CSO positions is driven by a combination of external and internal factors, and yet to date there has been limited research that integrates both perspectives to examine the presence and authority of CSO roles. Using a sample of S&P 500 firms, we found that the presence of CSO positions was related both externally to environmental conditions such as regulatory pressures and industry dynamism, and internally to organizational choices such as board‐level sustainability committees and internationalization. We also found that CSO authority was positively related to the organizational factors but not the environmental variables. This study complements existing CSO research by examining the factors linked to CSO presence and authority. The findings may assist researchers and practitioners in better understanding the effectiveness of CSO roles.

中文翻译：

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可持续发展何时应该有最高管理层的席位？首席可持续发展官职位的环境与组织相关性的实证研究


本研究遵循基于理论的方法，检查与首席可持续发展官 （CSO） 职位相关的环境和组织因素。我们认为，CSO 职位的创建是由外部和内部因素共同驱动的，但迄今为止，整合这两种观点以检验 CSO 角色的存在和权威的研究有限。使用标准普尔 500 指数公司的样本，我们发现 CSO 职位的存在既与外部环境条件（如监管压力和行业活力）相关，也与内部组织选择（如董事会层面的可持续发展委员会和国际化）有关。我们还发现 CSO 权限与组织因素呈正相关，但与环境变量无关。本研究通过检查与 CSO 存在和权威相关的因素来补充现有的 CSO 研究。这些发现可能有助于研究人员和从业者更好地了解 CSO 角色的有效性。